Cruel Beauty

This is a very difficult book to rate for me.

I love the concept and the characters. Nyx and Ignifex are awesome, both as individuals and as a couple. I like their developments. The castle is amazing. The book has beautiful, creepy, and beautifully creepy moments.

On the other hand, the world-building can be rather vague. The way the Greek gods blend with the hedge-gods isn't exactly smooth, so it feels surreal—though it's definitely a matter of preference. As much as I love the writing, I feel that it kind of fell apart towards the end.

I especially didn't like the twist with Astraia. I love how said character turned out to be in the end though, so probably I'm just not fond of how they handled that situation.

It's still a great book though, and I enjoyed it for the most part.