Probably my fifth reread of this book. As an introduction to a long series, this was a great book. It touched on several overarching plot themes and met a lot of characters you will see throughout the series, establishing a good baseline for all of it without being overly informative like a lot of fantasy series can be. The story is set in recent day (catching up to modern 2024) San Fransisco giving a familiar feel to the story and allowing the reader to balance the new magic and fae system and references with something more familiar. Out of this series, it’s not the best, but is close. There are times when you’ll love October, the main character and times when you’ll chastise her, giving her a very 3 dimensional feeling. As detective novels go, I would say it’s intermediate. The twists aren’t too predictable, and if you’re reading it for the first time, you may not ever see the end coming (I remember not expecting that twist until October starts puzzling it together). As fae series goes, I’d say it’s really good. It blends common knowledge with more niche references to fae folklore easily and only scratches the surface of larger themes and ideas as it should being the first of a long series. The sex scenes are fade to black, and the only real graphic moments are of fantasy violence.