Please note that this book is not for me - I have read the book, However I had to DNF and because i do not like to give negative reviews I will not review this book fully - there is no specific reason for not liking this book. I found it a struggle to read and did not enjoy trying to force myself to read this book.

Apologies for any inconvenience caused and thank you for the opportunity to read this book

With Thanks to Orion and Walker Dryden for an advanced readers copy of this book.

5*

I fell in love with the cover, then went straight on and fell in love with the story. I'm new to Walker Dryden as an author however it's clearly an over sight I need to correct.
It would be really difficult to summarise this book any further than the blub without huge spoilers so i'll turn this into a bullet point review;
- Great worldbuilding and storytelling
- Fantastically build and likeable characters, with true motivations.
- This is book is just really fun to read, its on the shorter side and 1 or 2 sittings is all you will need to tear through it.

I have to put a couple of disclaimers in - I didn't know this was linked to another book, and i also had never heard the podcast that the first book is tied to and i still read this and loved it. I will head backwards now and see what I missed.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an ARC.

3.5*

I enjoyed the book, but I couldn't really connect with any of the characters, however I feel this is more to do with the fact that I didn't realise this was the second book in the series. I will say however that you can read it as a standalone. I may end up reading the third just to see if Maya is an actual person and I'm interested to see where Barakat's story is heading, if anywhere.

I fell in love with the cover and then I fell in love with the story.
it's highly entertaining, gripping and I loved the fleshed out and likeable characters.
Great world building and plot, the author is a talented storyteller.
I can't wait to read another book by this author.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Thanks to NetGalley, Orion and the author for providing an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the opinions expressed in this review are my own.
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I was really anticipating this and it sounded fantastic from the blurb! The cover too is gorgeous!

Definitely one of the most fun reads of this year. I found it really hard to put it down and managed to finish it quite early. It would be difficult to give a detailed review without going into spoiler territory and I truly believe this is one of the stories one should jump into with the barest hint of a blurb to guide them.

Overall, I can say that the characters are well-developed and easy to empathize with, the setting and its systems are detailed, consistent and rich, and the plot is highly complex.

Without a doubt a full 5 stars from me!

Rating: 5/5 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I got a little jolt of excitement when I read the name "Walker Dryden" - and a slightly bigger jolt when I read "Tumanbay" in this book's description. Neither of those jolts compared to the ones I got while reading, and my husband asked if the book is actually called "What?!! No!!!". I absolutely loved the plot (there's plenty of twists and turns and shocks), and the writing is perfect... I want more from the world of Tumanbay!

My thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley. This review was written voluntarily and is entirely my own, unbiased, opinion.