There's a lot going on in this one. We've got politics, warring nations, prophecies, magic, mysterious histories, backstabbing, Korean mythology, and a variation on time travel that promises things are going to get a lot more complicated in the future. The time travel in particular makes the story feel like the first episode in a long and sprawling epic. Mirae is a confident lead with power to spare, and dedication to her loved ones. She refuses to compromise, a point that I (and the other characters) love and hate in equal measure. She also has a lot to learn, as the myriad of plot twists and big reveals show that her life and her world aren't as cut and dry as she was raised to believe. I appreciated the moments where the narrative slows down a bit to let her sort through these revelations, because the rest of the story moves fast. And yet for all the things packed in here, there is - weirdly - no romance. That's not a dealbreaker for me by any means, and I wouldn't even call it weird except for the fact that the narrative seems to imply there SHOULD be a romance. A handful of characters look like romantic candidates until they don't. The main character might have a lover in the future, or maybe she doesn't. It's a strange bit of non-committal writing for a book that otherwise seems incredibly confident in its choices. Aside from that, expect a book filled with magical lore, action, and many many twisty twists in the plot.

Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins Children's Books for an advance copy. All thoughts here are my own. Please support the union. linktr.ee/hcpunion