East

I honestly picked this book because I had nothing else to read, everything I wanted was already borrowed, and the system suggested it to me so I thought, “why not?” Wow, probably the biggest surprise of the year so far! The first few chapters were a little slow, mostly because you don't really know what's going on yet and it's a lot of narration, but once the story gets going, wow, it really entrances you! The way the lore and fairy tale is weaved into a real world narrative is truly fantastic and draws you in in ways other fantasy novels can't. I loved how the main character wasn't this perfect beautiful heroine, but instead felt like a real person. This is definitely up there in my favorites now!