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this is a story told in two povs: one, a girl who has only known a life of dust, while dreaming of a city where water is unlimited. the other, a boy who has been trapped in a library that is ever expanding with more and more mysteries.

quickly, their stories come together, and then together, and then together hehe. i loved the concept of this book, and i always adore mark lawrence’s writing, but this book was just too long and repetitive for me. now, there are so many good discussions in these pages, especially centered around power and privilege and who gets to control the education of people being abused by these power dynamics. and we ultimately get to see two people, on two sides, with two libraries writing the history of their people, while also observing how they treat people who they deem as other. again, so much to love. but the actual prolongment of this story just started to feel so convoluted to me while reading.

i am still very curious where the story will go, and i will most likely pick up book two and everything else this author creates because he is a fave of mine. but sadly the last half of this one just didn’t work for me, even those i truly did love the set up and getting to the middle of this book!

trigger + content warnings: blood, kidnapping, slavery, violence, gore, child death, grief, loss of parents in past, death, murder, vomit, loss of child in past, attempted assault, spiders, war, fire, self harm for blood magic

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━━�� buddy read with cory

1.) Red Sister ★★★★��
2.) Grey Sister ★★★★��
3.) Holy Sister ★★★★��