Best Sapphic Fantasy!!

This book was such an absolute blast. I was laughing, going back to reread scenes. This is exactly the kind of sapphic fantasy I love too, especially because the sapphic characters are actually the main focus for once!!! instead of getting shoved off to the side.
This book is funny, addictive, and has that push and pull energy where you tell yourself okay just one more chapter... and then somehow it is late and your sleep is ruined lol.
╰┈➤ ALEX HARKON:
Alex was so relatable to me and I think that is why I got attached to her so fast. She has this slightly hectic energy that makes her feel like an actual person instead of some polished fantasy heroine. And the gay panic?? I was with her the entire time.
My favourite passage was this: “the bloody stress of everyone trying to pair her off with the nearest same aged body in Ravenglade made her want to throat punch the whole village.” (Literally my life)
╰┈➤ LADY BELLARA VEX:
Bellara is honestly ridiculous in the best possible way. She has that aristocratic sorceress energy where every scene with her feels loaded with something. She is elegant, controlling, dangerous, clever, attractive I mean that portrait drawing in the back of the book? argghhahg (Gay panic). She is one of those characters where every time she shows up you sit up a bit straighter because you just know somthing is about to happen.
╰┈➤ BELLARA + ALEX:
These two were absolutely the best (I was obsessed) The push and pull between them is sooo gooooooood. That contrast between Bellara being this controlling sorceress and Alex being a huntress of the wild just works well. Every interaction had me locked in. They are so different in all the best ways and the tension between them just keeps building and building in such a satisfying way.
(They are both living rent free in my head now and I do not see that changing any time soon)
╰┈➤ GUS THE MOUSE NOCTORIAN:
Gus was such a standout character. So witty, so memorable. loved every bit of that energy. Same with the swamp witch!!!, both of them were the BEST.
╰┈➤ THE VIBE:
What I really loved is that this book lets itself be entertaining. It has humour, tension, unhinged moments that make the world feel alive, and it never feels flat. I was laughing more than once. (A lot of the time)
╰┈➤ FINAL THOUGHTS:
This was such a fun sapphic fantasy read and I am really glad these characters got their own space to shine. Alex is relatable, Bellara is magnetic, and Gus and the swamp witch were standouts for me. I saw at the back that another book is coming and now I am both excited and offended because I do not want to wait.
I have also read Nixara’s Awakening: A Forbidden Quest and can I just say, the way the stories connect and the clues planted across the universe has me flabbergasted . There is so much worldbuilding depth and passion in it and you can feel that everything is building toward something bigger.