3.5 stars

I wasn’t 100% sold on this book when I first started reading it. The pacing at the beginning feels off and the magic school where we first meet Leyna and her friends feels like it’s only there to introduce how the magic system works. Things really start getting interesting the moment they leave the wizard school and go to work at the castle. The characters are very fleshed out and the descriptions are done well and easy to visualise. What starts out as a book about a girl becoming a Huskarl (a King’s guard with magic) becomes a fantasy mystery/romance. The story is filled with intrigue with the puzzle pieces laced throughout. I enjoyed the interactions between Leyna and the Jester. 

Things I didn’t love: some of the word choices were a little lazy and as I said above the parts in the wizard school felt as though they went on for far too long. 

I do look forward to reading the second book in the duology. 

Thank you NetGalley, Jay Pellegrin and the publisher for access to the ARC in exchange for an honest and fair review.

Move over sunshine x grumpy, this is sunshine x annoying little shit and I fucking love it.
The Jester is my new fav fictional man rn.

The beginning was admittedly a little slow for me and a bit of info dumping. It really picks up once The Jester is introduced and omg did that hook me in. The banter, the tension, every scene between them had me kicking my feet in bed squealing. The romance development was excellent throughout the progression of their relationship.

There were things I saw coming but also some surprises. I haven't read a fantasy book w strong political intrigue for a while, and I was really invested in this book's mystery. Sometimes I wanted to give Leyna a hard kick for some of her choices, but her constant internal struggle between what is right and wrong, the disillusionment of achieving our goals, and her sense of identity made her a wonderfully complex and flawed character in the best way.

Tonally, the story would shift between slightly darker medieval-inspired fantasy to very strongly fantasy romance, which was intriguing. I think I'd even compare it as a Magicians (the show, I never read the books) meets FBAA (better character writing though, no hate JLA) meets Folk of the Air series (political intrigue).

I don't usually reread (bc I'm haunted by my neverending TBR), but I will 100% be rereading this just for Jester x Leyna scenes & dynamic.

I'm dying for the next book so I hope you have that ready soon JP bc I NEED MORE.