I enjoyed this alot, more than I thought I would to be honest. The characters are really fun and interesting and I do love a bit of magic in my reads. This world although fantasy is well thought out and comes across as very real. 

I have a few critiques with some of the language used and plot point which may not be to everyone's taste. The language comes across very YA (though this is an adult series and does have colourful swear word choices).

Thins book handles the topic of transgender and transphobia well. However at times I didn't love some of the perspectives on cis-white characters. I felt cis-white characters were always seen as coming from a point of privilege and were at times vilified.

I think this is more of a personal criticism from myself as I am a cis-white woman who has not grown up with added privileges and come from a fairly disadvantaged background. 

One huge issue I have

is with Helena. Yes she is a rich white woman who has grown up with all the privileges possible. However her character at the end completely goes off the rails in an almost cartoonish fashion, it feels like a caricature. I completelyget that she is representing the toxic transphobic people that are real but its very oddly done. I am also concernedabout the character Snow, who seemed to show some remorse a d guilt but now seems to be of that same mindset as her mother at the end which was bizzare.