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೶�. arc review

⊰࿐ my thoughts
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i’m honestly having mixed emotions after finishing this book. on one hand, i really loved it. the writing style was just so unique, and unlike anything i’ve read before. the beginning is slow, and when i mean slow, i mean very slow. there were points where i was questioning the amount of time that was passing, especially near the start of the book. it does pick up, and by the end of the book, it’s pretty fast paced. in a way, it almost reminds me of a mafia style babel by r.f. kuang with more of a romantically focused plot.

the romance itself was okay. i wasn’t able to really connect to the characters that much, so i was having trouble with the idea of ari and sam’s relationship (if you can call it that). sam and ari have been friends since their childhood. ari has always gotten attention from people, even when he doesn’t want it, while sam is excellent at going unnoticed. ari is the first person who truly sees sam, and they start exchanging notes at school. they talk about everything together, everything but their home lives. given the fact that we are only given a snippet of these notes, and they really don’t interact as much when they become alchemists, it’s hard to find chemistry between the two of them. i almost wanted to see sam end up with will instead of ari.

you know those books that somehow manage to shift your entire perspective on life? this is one of those books. the writing is just so beautiful and i was so disappointed when i reached the end. sometimes i read fantasy books primarily for the romance, but the political plot was solid better than the romance in this book, and i was completely and wholly invested. as i mentioned earlier, the beginning is slow, but it speeds up as it goes on. that cliffhanger�� i have no words right now.


⊰࿐ features
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- childhood friends
- romance/fantasy
- syndicates
- touch her and die
- sex with characters other than the mcs
- descriptive violence/gore
- political plot
- 3rd person
- dual pov


>> thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an arc - all thoughts are my own <3

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GUYS. i just got the arc 🥹🥹🥹 let me scream for a minute-