Oh, I SO loved this one. Klara is one tough girl and can take care of herself! I love the interactions between her and Lilith. The author has created a fascinating fantasy world, and I can’t wait to read more!

So… This is not a bad book, but honestly, I just could get into it. The characters hold no appeal for me, the story was predictable, and many ideas seemed to be only half-developed. I almost DNF it (not because it was bad, but because it was not good enough to get me interested).
The first 50 pages are a little confusing. We get to know Klara, daughter of Lucifer and heiress of Hell, but there are mentions of High Queens, various realms, and laws that are not explained well enough. I could not see the connections between the information I was given until the fourth chapter. There is action right from the start though so at least it was entertaining. After the first few chapters, we can understand better the world Klara lives in and the details of her current situation.

This book is an easy read, but the plotline is weak. Klara is the perfect and quite powerful daughter that Lucifer created to be his heiress. She has been put in the care of the three queens of Malum: Lilith, Abadon and Eve. Their job is to train her, but Klara is desperate to leave for good and go the realm of Kalos where things are more peaceful. She wants nothing to do with Hell or ruling or her father and she is trying to find a way to escape…. And that’s it for the first half of the book. Things start to get more interesting (Klara actually fleeing the castle and traveling to Kalos) in the second half of the book. It still takes more than 140 pages for the story to start moving forward.

Not much happens for the first half of the book. All I knew was that Klara was secretly trying to leave Malum. There is also a romantic sub-plot between Klara and her long-lost childhood best friend (we see him for a few chapters and then he disappears again until he comes back at the end because he is the one responsible for bringing Klara back to Hell), but honestly, the building of their relationship is poor. We don’t have any details about their past together and now she sees him again after so many years and she does not trust him, yet she is attracted to him. He seems quite loyal to Lucifer, but at the same time, he keeps Klara’s secrets and wants her to stay with him. Then there is a romance between Klara and a Lycaon she’s traveling with, but once again there is no building, I felt nothing between them and suddenly they are kissing passionately…

The last 50 pages are better at least. There is action, treason, and battles, but it was not enough to make me love this story. I was so bored for the first half that it's like my mind was already made. It felt as is I read a 500 pages book instead of 200 pages one.

I see the potential of this book, but too often the descriptions fell short and things felt rushed. There were a lot of dialogues and it was sometimes hard to know who was saying what. I would have liked fewer dialogues and more internal dialogue and more insight into the characters' thoughts and feelings (other than Klara’s desire for freedom).

This was a really interesting idea, and I loved the mix of lore, everything from Fae, to Daemons and Angels as well as a whole host of fairytale creatures and even a few from mythology.
The pacing of the book was great, and I wanted to know what happened next, I really liked Klara's character and her need to escape the life chosen for her was understandable given where and with who she had to grown up around. The really liked the world building but wanted to know more about everything and the characters.
The plot was really twisty and there were several turns I really did not see coming. Especially that ending!

A fun, high fantasy, YA adventure.

Klara is a head strong girl, who is the heir to Hell. Made from Lucifer's body and kept "safely" locked away Dark Forest of Malum, seperate from Hell, the fae world of Kalos and the human world. She is kept under the watchful eyes of the three Queens, Eve, Lilith and the High Queen Abadon. Trained since birth to take over as high Queen of Malum, before ascending her rightful place in Hell. One problem, Klara doesn't want any of it.

This was a fun read, it had elements of great world building, I just wish it had been a bit more fleshed out. I think it could have really benefited from an extra 5--100 pages. Klara's character is flighty and indecisive, but I think that added some depth to her character. I would have liked some more elements from epic fantasy and a bit more fleshing out of some scenes, but overall I enjoyed the journey and can't wait for part 2.

The main character, Klara, is the daughter of Lucifer. Yes, THE Lucifer, as in Ruler of Hell. She was sent to be raised by the 3 queens, The High Queen and mother of demons, Abadan; Adam's wife, Eve; and the First Woman and first wife of Adam, Lilith. Klara was mistreated her whole life, beaten and broken for the purpose of making her tough, strong, and ready to one day take over as the Heir of Hell.

There are witches and warlocks, lycaon (as in werewolves), vampires are mentioned though we don't actually meet any in the story, demons, ghouls, centaurs, ogres, giants and a number of other beings that all take residence in the vast lands that make up the realm of the dead that are all ruled by Lucifer.

Klara has strange abilities which are always considered to be part of her bloodline back to Lucifer. Her guardians all seem to hate her mostly due to her being the next Heir to the throne of Hell - and she them for their cruelty.

She seems to have had a childhood bestfriend named Frendall, who she has been separated from for a very long time as she was raised by the three queens, and he was raised by Lucifer to be a Commander of his army. Seeing as they are both grown now, there appears to be deep feelings between them even though those feelings are never fully fleshed out. Then there are the beginnings of a connection between her and a lycaon named Wolfgang but again, never fully fleshed out - though to be fair, they are running for their lives at the time he is introduced.

There is deception and glamour and twists, all to be expected as demonic beings and fallen angels surely can't fully be trusted. Or can they?

Overall, I liked this story. It was interesting and I kept wanting to read more. I enjoyed being back in a paranormal sort of universe. There wasn't near enough of a romantic storyline for my personal liking though. The ending felt rushed and wrapped up too neatly. I much prefer some major cliffhanger combined with some sort of smaller resolution in the plot for a series. I am intrigued enough to want to read what happens next in the series depending on what the description of the next book is.

Favorite Quotes:
"The world doesn't exist to fit into your plans", Wolfgang snapped.

"Act like a leader and not an upset child."

Language Rating: 1.5 (light to medium)
Mature Content Rating: 1 (light)
Final Rating: 3.5 stars

This novel follows Klara, the heir to Hell, on her journey to escape her destiny. Overall, I enjoyed this book. I instantly related to Klara and enjoyed seeing her growth throughout the story. I found her relationship with her father very interesting, although her relationships with other characters seemed a bit rushed at times. The fairytale-feel of this book was my favorite part. The world building was very unique and whimsical, complex, yet understandable. My major problem was the pacing of the plot. Although intriguing, the storyline seemed to move very slow at times then pick up rapidly. Despite this, I was entertained through most of the novel and loved the ending. I would recommend this book to others because I really liked the dark fairytale aesthetic, even though the plot was a bit slow at times.

꧁Ｒｅｖｉｅｗ꧂
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𝐂𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐀 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐁𝐲 𝐊𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐂𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐠𝐡𝐚𝐧

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“Sometimes it’s better to be feared than loved”.
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𝐒𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲

A Young Adult Dark Fantasy from Hell. The hunt for Klara will keep you on the edge of your seat in this fast-paced, suspenseful Epic Fantasy.

Heir to Hell and the Dark Forest of Malum, Klara has been called upon to take her place as High Queen of Malum. Though Klara has no intention of ruling, her guardians want her head on a spike. Klara's only option - escape to Kalos, Fae ruled lands free from Dark Magic. To survive the perilous journey, she needs help...

A Leprechaun with a talent for smuggling.
A mischievous Demon with swaying loyalties.
The soul of a greying Warlock.
Lycaon siblings with a talent for deception.

Destiny has an awful habit of catching up with those who run.

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𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰
Thank you so much to @Callaghanwriter and @netgalley for sending me the ebook of Crowned A Traitor for an honest review.

I really liked the story and the plot was great. It’s certainly different to what I have been reading in the fantasy genre. I enjoyed the world building and how dark and gruesome it is.

I really like Klara and her journey throughout the book. She definitely is a total badass.

Kate’s ability to craft characters and their own paths is second to none. I loved how the High Queens were portrayed and how Lucifer came across.

The pacing of this dark fantasy is a little slow to start but then it picks up.

This book was brilliantly crafted, which takes you on an epic adventure.

I would recommend with you like dark fantasy.


𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Unfortunately I didn't finish this one. While the premise was interesting everything seemed to drag along forever and oftentimes the wording was repetitive or redundant and I am the type to not be able to fully enjoy a book if im confused through most of it.

The cover is however beautiful, and I know that while it wasn't my thing many other have and will enjoy it.

3.5 stars

“Would I prefer to be somewhere, something else? Yes, but my fate is to serve, and yours is to rule.”



This book has so much promise and such an intriguing idea.

In a world ruled by wicked and cruel Queens, tied irremovably to Hell, and destined to be one day Klara's domain - as the Heiress to Hell - we have the opposing forces of good and evil, duty and desire, freedom and responsabilty warring between each other inside Klara.

What do you do when everything you have been raised to be is everything you don't want to be? When all you want is to take control of your own life? When death and cruelty is not what you want but what you are destined to?

Klara most find the answers between ruling or living the life she has always wanted. Love, friendship, betrayal, family, death, and secrets will all consumed her life and force her to make a decision. And she will have to fight for her life to find it.

It has some most intriguing aspects and plays with really cool ideas and plots. Sadly, truly sadly, the slowness of it all muddled my feelings for it.

However, I did enjoyed it.

“Weakness is settling for a life based on what others want of you and from you.”



While being a short book, it still takes this book an awfully long time to get anywhere that we actually want to be. Seriously, halfway through it I was almost doned with it but, wouldn't you know, that was when it finally started getting interesting.

It's just that it takes way too long in worldbuilding and exposition when it could have been done quicker. At first I thought it was mostly wasted and we could have skipped all of it but, sure, I see the point of things happening as they do. I DO SEE IT. It still could have been done faster and not taken half the book to get there.

“Sometimes it’s better to be feared than loved.”



It does play with some really intriguing and deep themes that made me fall in love with it.

They were handled in a... not exactly inscopicuos way but subtler than I would have expected for something so big. Basically what I mean is that it wasn't relentlessly showed down our throats at every possible turn but rather we were allowed to sit and stew on it and arrive to our own clonclusions while Klara herself left it on the backburner to focuse on more pressing matters.

It was still very well handled. As well as all the smaller - but equally important - themes and plots that were managed through the story.

“Good and evil. There is a clear divide, we are born into our nature and pushed hard enough, it will be revealed.”



Moving on, I was dissapointed in the general cruelty and darkness this book was gonna give me. It does has a decent amount, I suppose, of mentioned and remembered or pointed out moments that give you and idea of what this world is supposed to be but the fact that it never gets past that, not really, was a huge let- down.

Was I maybe asking for a little too much out of a YA? Maybe, but I'm positive I've read others that dare sink more into it.

I mean, you are telling me all this stories and I believe you because I have little reason not to, but getting to see it for myself wouldn't have hurt at all. Or, like, being there while it happened rather than just seeing the after-effects.

We ARE talking about Lucifer himself a lot of the time and I was more scared of anything but him. Sure, the twist is fun and all but if you're gonna use such a character, prop him up as you would naturally expect Lucifer to be presented, and then NOT capitalyzed in it I'm gonna have to kindly ask you to please don't do it.

That's the thing, at no point did I feel like there were real and very tangible stakes in any of the situations I was reading about. I knew there were potential consequences, but there was a zero sense of foreboredom or mantel of anxiety coursing through my veins through even the most hair-raising moments of the book.

“A ruler doesn’t need taming.”



There were, however, many really good plot twists that I appreciated throughely.

No, I wouldn't say they were ever truly amazing and unphatomable to the point I needed to re-read something to fully wrap my head around it but they were there and they changed the story.

Honestly, I was kicking myself for not seeing some of them because they were right there for me to pick up on them and make sense of the whole ordeal.

“Mila had suffered just as Klara has, the only difference, Klara was stronger.”



I did ended up liking it quite a bit and I'm most definitely interested in seeing how everything pans out at the end. It's a very intriguing world and has so many aspects that I just can't get over and I need to see them fully develop.

Klara's journey is gonna be really different next time around and I really want to see that.

“If they insisted in hunting the Heiress of Hell, then she would show them exactly what she was capable of.”

I’ve always loved stories that star monsters, especially when those monsters are brought down to earth. When this story started in a monster pizza joint, I knew instantly that I was going to love it. Kate Callaghan’s novel, “Crowned a Traitor,” was a good read that left me wanting more.
Klara does not want to be the next ruler of Hell. That’s a little hard to avoid, however, when your father is Lucifer himself. She’s been training her whole life for the one day when she will rule Hell, but she would much rather someone else take the responsibility. She’d rather be kind to others than torture them. When that isn’t an option in her father’s mind, Klara knows there’s only one thing to do – escape.
Klara wants to go to Kalos, far away from her current home and her unwanted responsibility. But, trying to run away will instantly make her a traitor in her father’s eyes. Still, Klara sees no other way to escape her horrible life; if becoming a traitor is what it takes, then she’s willing to take the risk.
The journey to Kalos proves far more treacherous than she expected. Her homeland is already full of dangerous monsters, and Lucifer is not going to let her escape that easily. Fleeing to Kalos proves to push her to the very limit, but this tough heroine isn’t going to be placed in her own personal hell that easily.
Chock-full of monsters and demons from all kinds of lore, this book is a good read for all those who love dark fantasy and strong female leads. A very good read!

Reviewed by Bailey Day, author of “The Amazing Imagination Machine” by Suspense Publishing, an imprint of Suspense Magazine.

CROWNED A TRAITOR is a turning point in the story of Lucifer’s daughter Klara. She is being groomed by Lucifer’s three queens – Lillith, Eve, & Abadan – to take over Hell. Klara doesn’t want to rule Hell and is looking for a way out. Before she can put her plan into place, she needs to visit her Father and replace the heart she lost in a fight. In effort to leave Hell and get her plan back on track, she tells her Father she has a operation she wants to complete. He agrees but soon after things go awry.

The world building, characters, and mythology were spot on and I like Klara’s story. There was some confusion for me with the dialogue at times. One character would be talking to another and sometimes it seemed it was all the first person speaking when really it was the second. I’m not sure if it was because of the layout or that was how the author intended. Also, there were spots of the story that were choppy. I could follow it, but it seemed the author assumed I would keep up with their intention. CROWNED A TRAITOR was a good story and I can only see Kate Callaghan becoming an even better storyteller.

I received an advance review copy for free from NetGalley and am leaving my honest review voluntarily. I will be adding this review to my website EveHallows.com.

#CrownedATraitor #NetGalley

I enjoyed this book. The storyline is right up my alley and the characters were interesting. I found myself immersed in the world and invested in the ending.

Crowned A Traitor had a really interesting premise in focusing on the heir to hell. It is all from the perspective of Klara, who is the daughter of Lucifer which does gives her character an edge. Desperate to flee her predestined future means she sometimes comes across as whiny and although I didn't always like her I resonated with her wanting to be a normal teenager (who just happens to be daughter of the Devil). My favourite part about her were the fight scenes because I adore a dark fantasy than truly doesn't shy away from placing them in the middle of danger; However overall her personality lacked a likeable quality and I didn't connect with her as much as I wanted. I feel like this is mostly due to the writing style which often came across as feeling very FanFic-esque. I feel like the characters, the descriptions, and mostly the world building just needed MORE! I also believe that it was incredibly hard to fit this desired level of a dark fantasy world in such a short book. Overall, I think the premise is the seller here but it needed expanding and developing so that the world could reflect a more mature outlook I feel the story demanded.

I didn't enjoy this book. Its not inherently bad but the story seemed generic and predictable. The characters were not relatable and their arches non existant. I admittedly skim read most of the book.

I normally don't give bad reviews so I think this was simply a case of it wasn't for me as I know lots of people who have enjoyed this book.

This book I thought was fine and it was fun to read. However, it wasn’t amazing.

One thing that I want to point out is that the blurb made this story sound different to what it actually was. I was expecting an epic fantasy and what I got was a decent one at best. Sure, Klara doesn’t want to rule and the Queens want her head but not for the reason the blurb makes out. I expected a gang of misfits working together to try to help Klara either run or take her birthright from the Queens and instead… well, that didn’t really happen.

The plot did feel original, I’ll give it that, but I did feel like I was promised a different book than what I actually read. Which I think is probably why I gave this 2.5 stars. It sounds like it should be an epic, sweeping fantasy and it doesn’t really deliver on that.

I felt that the characterization was limited. I felt that the characters weren’t fleshed out enough. I didn’t care for many of the characters and the ones that you were meant to care about I didn’t because I didn’t really know them. Klara I felt was sometimes not that interesting. She was the daughter of Lucifer, she didn’t want the Throne, so she ran away. She’s tough, brutally honest, had a tough upbringing, she can fight, but she cares about everyone and everything. Klara was a bit clique.

The only characters that I liked were Lilith and Lucifer, even though they don’t appear that much, but they felt very distinct compared to many of the other characters. A lot of the characters felt very bland and a bit two dimensional. And some seemed to have no reason to be there other than to help Klara. Yeah, I definitely would’ve liked more fleshed out characters in this book.

There was a little bit of romance but I felt that it was poor. I honestly felt like the romance in this book was completely unnecessary. I didn’t get the sense of any romantic feelings or tension between Klara and her love interests. Yep, there’s two. I just didn’t care for it and I think this book could have easily gone without it.

Whilst reading it felt like it jumped around sometimes. There were some scenes and conversations that didn’t make much sense, almost as if a chunk of text was missing that connected it. Thankfully this didn’t happen that often, I think it might have just been something that was missed during editing.

There were some plot points that were brought up, that I thought were really interesting, that were never brought up again. And if they were it was very vaguely. As this is the first book in a series then it’s possible that some of these things could be brought up in more detail in the future. But it did feel like a missed opportunity to make this book more complex and more entertaining and more engaging.

Now I don’t want to be completely negative so here are parts that I did like:

The description of the world. Every place that Klara goes I could picture vividly in my mind. Especially the Beanstalk at the start of the book, the mushroom den and the giants’ land. I felt like that was something that was really strong and helped me to visualise the world really well.
Klara’s unique power. It was unique to her and could only be used through touch. I liked that it was kind of limited but also that Klara wasn’t able to use it all the time either. Even when it would have been easier to use it but would have put herself and others in danger.
I liked that Klara didn’t want to rule Hell or Malum, even though her dad wanted her to. That was the whole reason he created her. I mean it’s kind of a stereotype, the heir to the throne doesn’t want to rule, but it was fun. It’s a trope that I quite enjoy reading. Especially when a new twist is put on it.
Some different and creative magical elements.
Such as a spider that can suture a wound. I thought that this was really interesting and not something that I’ve seen in a fantasy before.
Mushroom dens, they way that this place was described made me think of opium dens.
The hierarchy of the different demons and creatures in Malum. I liked that there were a lot of creatures and they all had different places in this world, and they were introduced and explained alongside the characters that were introduced. In some fantasy books there can be a bit of an info dump when it comes to the creatures or the hierarchy, which I felt didn’t happen here.
All the different rulers in this world had different powers, there’s five different rulers in this story; Lucifer the King of Hell, the Three Queens of Malum; Abadon, Eve, and Lilith, and the Fae Queen (I can’t remember if her name was ever mentioned).
I enjoyed this book, it was fun and very easy to read. It didn’t have a very complicated plot so I was able to easily read it during breaks at work and I could easily pick up where the book had left off. It wasn’t one that I was dying to find out what would happen next. I would say that this book is good to read if you want something easy and not too complicated.

Once I got past the first few chapters I did want to know where this story would end up. I did think that this book worked well as a first novel in a series. But I don’t know where this will go as a series. I don’t think I’ll carry on reading this series even though I liked this story it wasn’t one that I think will stay with me or I’ll want to continue reading.

Crowned A Traitor is a YA Dark Fantasy with an interesting premise and a complex story-line including a struggle for power and an abundance of paranormal creatures. There's a lot of promise here, but the lack of depth within either the world or characters prevented me from enjoying as much as I had wished.

Klara is the heir to hell, but she's desperately looking for a way out. Her guardians see her as a threat to their power, and her escape plan needs to be enacted quicker than she thought. The travel towards the Kalos, Fae ruled lands, is more perilous than she had anticipated.

As a teenager, I always loved the sort of fantasy depicted in Crowned A Traitor; I probably would have gobbled down this story. Unfortunately, my tastes have grown a little bit away from 'does this have paranormal creatures in it?'. Even still, I wanted to enjoy this, and it's certainly not an awful book, but it's not one I particularly enjoyed.

Kate Callaghan creates a world with multiple layers to it and an enormous number of different creatures to populate it. You've got Kalos (the fae lands), Hell, Malum, and presumably a human realm. I love complicated worlds, especially when mixed with the political intrigue this book promised, but there wasn't any depth to it.

The author probably knows every detail of the worlds she's created, but instead of slowly revealing this to us in a way that makes you desperate to know more, it's a book of info-dumps. Sometimes the info-dumps don't even make sense in the context of the plot, why would two characters discuss how their own world works?

I have to admit, I'm someone who loves world-building, so maybe if this isn't as important to you, you'd get along with this book much better. YA can get away with weaker world-building, but with a book with so many complex elements to it this needs more.

The characters also lacked depth. Their voices were easily interchangeable, and with a large cast that just made it all incredibly confusing. I can't remember liking a single person. Most characters were one dimensional with a lack of backstory or defining personality traits other than nice or bad. I love the idea behind most of them, but I don't have a reason to care.

Our main character, Klara, is the most developed, but even she was a weak character. Her motivation was to escape and leave the inheritance of a Kingdom behind, and that was it. I'm not usually the type to point and scream "Mary Sue", but Klara is one. She's so beautiful, and talented, and deadly, and kind to the poor people of the land, and her evil kind-of-mothers want to kill her, and her dads the devil, and she likes the boy she can't have. Nothing is interesting or new here.

The romance also didn't do much for me. With no connection to the characters, there's no reason to care. We're told the man she likes is an old friend from her childhood, now loyal to her father, and then suddenly they're making out? Then, later on, there's a lycanthrope, and they're slowly becoming friends, and then they're making out? There needs to be more internal monologue here, or something at least, to build up romantic tension.

The ideas of the book were brilliant. Especially towards the end, it had the level of trickery and secrets that I expect; I could see it going to great places. I want to support and enjoy this author's work because it's obvious she has interesting stories to tell. However, sometimes cramming in every type of creature possible isn't necessary, especially when it interrupts the depth of the storytelling. I know this isn't the most positive review, but I do think this book is worth checking out if you usually enjoy the genre.

Dnf 30%. I tried to keep going even though I wasn’t really into the story or any of the characters so far, but...

Crowned a Traitor, despite the cool name, is like a badly edited fanfic, something that feels more like a first draft that needs more editing and grammar checks than a finished book. It tells the story about Klara, the daughter of Lucifer, who at first wants to get out of the Forest and, needing money, ends up in a fight that leads to her showing off her (infodumping skills) powers and losing her heart. While she’s not in Hell, dealing with politics and assassinations attempts, she’s training (or being tortured) by the Queens (Abadam, Lilith and Eve).

The narrative itself is quite confusing, it’s all very messy, with lots of things happening at once thrown together. The characters tell each other basic knowledge that all of them should know, which makes everything even more annoying. I couldn’t make myself care for Klara or the plot, and with 30% into the book the other cast of characters, supposed to help her in her “journey”, haven’t even showed up yet. Sadly I won’t be reading more to meet any of them. Sorry!

This book had a great story, but I felt like the ending was very rushed and should have been more fleshed out. I did enjoy the characters, but sometimes I felt that they lacked personality. All the demons seemed the same and I couldn't tell you the difference between a lot of them. To be fair this ebook format was really odd and it was had to tell who was speaking when. Overall an original idea and decent read.

‘The Doomed feed the roses with there life source. Without the souls the roses would wither and die in this climate’

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this book, I had noticed when adding it to my good reads it had some low reviews but as always I never let reviews or rating deter me, just as I don’t always read the synopsis as they give to much away. As i dived in I was glad for this habbit as each page was packed with goodness.

If Lucifer had a daughter, you can bet she would be Klara, her heart is everything he isn’t but at the same time everything he deserves. She grows so much throughout the book and her journey, it almost reminds me of a sheltered teenager, all she wants to do is spread her wings and to do that she has to break some rules and then some.

Kate has written Klara with so much passion you feel it in every detail and there are a lot as the books progress, despite her power, her own emotion has depth and being as innocent and sheltered as she is her emotions are somewhat misplaced and not always handled correctly. Each page is packed full of action, rebelliousness and a reason to keep reading. A debut worth every page turned

full reviews here
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3546075575
Amazon: awaiting submission to be accepted

trigger warning
<spoiler> torture, child neglect, implied cannibalism </spoiler>

Today, Klara starts her new job as waitress in a tavern, which will bring her one step closer to be able to run away. She'll need money - she'll need to bribe people. Because her father is the devil and three wicked queens act as her guardians.

This made sense to me in the beginning. In order to pursue her dream, a free life, she tries to earn herself some money but loses her new position as she discovers her employees smuggle human flesh which a) is illegal because b) if the wrong creatures eat it, they'll turn into ghouls. It comes to a fight and as she has had supreme combat training, she wins, if wounded.
But as I saw that she just lost her heart to be very edgy and that her name is Klara Morningstar, I knew this would be a hard read because I stopped reading fanfics years ago with the reasoning that with published books at least a professional would have edited it.

Yeah, it read like a fanfic. Klara is not like other girls. She is lonely, isolated, has been tortured and is so brave and intelligent and cunning and beautiful and she's in love with the bad boy she can't have.

So, Lucifer shipped her from hell to a place called Malum which is ruled by three queens: Eve, Lillith and Abadon. A sorceress, a warrior and a demon. A big point is made about Lillith having been the person who trained Klara, a training so hard it was torture, so she can stand what life will throw at her later. Eve, who would have been responsible for her knowledge and magic abilities neglected to do so, instead pointing her ward in the direction of the library. Abalon was responsible for... ah... nothing. But still, we're told that all three of them left their mark and balanced each other out.
The author makes sure to let you know that Klara's magical abilities are mostly based on instinct, because apparently the library is rubbish when it comes to that topic - and yet, in the last third of the book, Klara has one amazing spell after the other that will help to solve a problem.

Klara wants to flee because her life has been misery. She knew, or thought she knew, that the queens hated her, wanted her dead, and she longs for a life without constant threat, without endless training. She has been isolated, parted from her best friend she also has a crush on, on purpose. She immediately takes to the travel companions she ends up with, and does everything to save them, especially a child. It's not explained why, and feels like character inconsistency as it's not adressed in any way. When was the last time she felt companionship? Does she remember that, or are these new feelings? Or does she feel more maternal? Maybe she even comes to realise she'll have to rule and will protect her own, or percieves them as her property?
There is no way to know. What could have been an interesting angle has been completely ignored.

I can live with there being a lot typos in an advanced reading copy that is not supposed to be the finished product. Yes, it was annoying, but I am just going to assume somebody will have done something about that before printing.
What I really, really, really dislike is the inconsistency in pronouns. In the beginning, I was glad as a demon was described with they/them pronouns. In the bible, angels are depicted as genderless, which makes them non-binary in my mind. Demons are fallen angels and their offspring. It makes sense to use they/them pronouns. That was a point I noted positively. And then it pronouns were used for the same characters, not once, but multiple times. Yeah, thank you for that one.
This non binary reader is not amused.

We could talk about the author sticking to Latin, but at this point I just want to get this review over with. Just let me say that Latin is not that old and totally overrated when it comes to fantasy as a genre. If you want to portray beings as being eons old, either give them more than one language or chose something that has been around for longer. Sumerian is always a safe bet - you know, the first language we have written evidence of. You could even ignore that and chose the language of birds the people supposedly spoke before the tower of Babel and all of that confusion, or invent a celestial language like they did in Penny Dreadful.

As it stands, I got the impression that they saw that Holly Black's Folk of the Air trilogy and Netflix' Chilling Adventures of Sabrina are popular and mashed everything together without thinking about it too deeply.

One star. Read it if you love reading badly written books, ignore it otherwise.

The arc was provided by the publisher.