If you are looking for a happy book, this is not it. There is little happy about this book.

It's about war, and aftermath, about guerrilla tactics and terrorism, about monsters leading the game, and families being slaughtered. And paying evil unto evil in a seemingly unending cycle. Plus some very scream worthy diabolus ex machina.

But there are little shining spots. And little acts of mercy that wish to get paid forward. And there is hope, as befits the theme. Heart wrenching, beautiful, terrible hope.

I'll be wanting to read the next, because even if you expect a good ending, you wish a good ending, not only there is no warranty, but also no seeming way without a miracle. And would I forgive a device in this desperate case! And, well, there is that little powder keg everyone seems to be sitting on.

Shit. Fuck... fuck.

This is how you take some fairy tale elements and turn it into a horror from an unexpected quarter.

This. This is how you take a hateful protagonist (or at least, one that makes you cringe a lot) and still have you relate. This is how you build a teen cast and make them believable. It's all about layers and growth.

There is so much about this I liked. So many issues addressed that make me want to pass it over to my little sister. Like your first time having sex and what motivates it, being bullied, being the bully, friendship, that no friend is perfect, that it's still right to love them, conforming and why we try to, toeing lines or crashing them. Redemption. Trying.

It makes you think. There is background added to the characters that makes you feel judgemental. It's not about cut-board mean girls. Not everything is meant, not everything is black and white. Everyone is connected, every act has consequences, and not always the ones we think.

"Do a good thing and something bad happens. Do a bad thing and something good happens. Do nothing and everything explodes."

Finally, there is enough evolution to have you cheer on that cringe-worthy MC after the middle point. You get invested. Pretty amazing.

So yeah, hell of a story. Silver Thistle probably got it down better, if you want it more coherent.