I went on a YA fantasy binge a while ago and this book kept getting recommended to me, so I grabbed it. I liked some things about it: the world is contemporary set in Alaska. The Fae are known and even have an amusement park setting for human tourists as an industry. This was interesting, different from the usual Fae story and I liked the idea of Underhill, a combat testing zone for the Fae. But then the story devolved to the YA trope stuff.
Alli is a half-Fae, half-human who's determined to beat the training course and join the Seelie guards. She has a good friend, Hyacinth, who's a baker. She has a crush on Faolan who is bound to the Unseelie court. There's a lot of drama, some interesting and some not so good.
It's a good enough story and different, so I continued the series. Not my favorite YA fantasy but I want to see where it goes. ( )

This was such an addictive, coming of age read. It had loads of action... in fact, right off the bat, we were dropped into the fray of a physical and mental set of trials whose results were to determine the rest of the participants' lives. There was drama and betrayal and lots of butt kicking a la, our MC, Kallik's style. Skipping ahead to avoid spoilers at all costs. There's more drama, some running, some more bouts of MC badass-ery, alliances made, betrayal and then there's Lan... yummy, angsty, possible owner of a stick up his bum, Faolan aka Lan. There was some slightly witty, but definitely natural feeling dialogue... a possible love triangle (which I normally shy away from... vehemently... but here it was nascent and harmless... so far) and a world not only populated by we mere humans but Fae of varying types as well. There was even a tiny pinch of Seelie courtly intrigue.

It was entertaining enough to demand all of my attention for the entirety of the book. I became increasingly vexed watching the page numbers increase, dreading the coming of the end WHICH, in and of itself, is an infallible sign of a truly enjoyable read! It ended on a bit of a cliffhanger but (no spoilers here) I was extremely happy to see who it was that showed up at the very end. The writing was solid, the background building and character development were both lush, and detailed. Kallik was gifted (?), had loads of abandonment issues and was definitely flawed BUT she was also a kick ass fighter, survivor and loyal friend. The pacing was perfect. It had lots of drama and a dollop of romance peppered throughout a primarily Action-centric book.

Overall:

This book was a (very) happy accident. I found it hidden among the other Kindle Unlimited books soooo I ended up paying $0 and walked away with a really enjoyable read... win-win! This one's a great choice for lovers of Fantasy, Fae and (pretty tame) friends --> enemies(ish) ---> (possible) lovers tropes as well as those just looking for a magical, Alaskan read. It'll also be a hit with those that love kick ass female MCs that are working on personal growth, magical growth and trying their best to exorcize their emotional demons. The writing is really solid, the pacing is perfect, the world and character developments are diverse and quite satisfying. My interest is piqued and I'm anxious for September 27th to get here so I can find out what happens next. Luckily it's only a few days away but that can feel like torture when waiting for a sequel to drop.

I reccomend this book to all Jennifer Armentrout, (maybe some) Sarah J. Maas, Holly Black or even Julie Kagawa fans... it's a great way to spend a few hours... or many hours depending on how fast you read. My advice is to read slowly because waiting for the next book??... no es divertido!

~ Enjoy ( )