My impressions, during assessing this read, varied a lot.
Firstly I was enthusiastic, as I loved « Witchmark » by the author. I was a little bit wary, as this kind of victorianish fiction is more frequently weak than inspired, but still, very interested.
Alas my trust in the author powers to deliver some good story with good characters wobbled soon: the characters were two dimensional, the messages insanely insistant and the dialogues mostly cringing.
At this stade, I should have give up. But, surprisingly, my interest in the story was real, strong enough to spur me to read on, which is – for all its meanness – a solid recommandation as I’m incapable of reading on a book which annoys me.
In the end, the story was very good, I loved the main ideas, all the little details. But the writing in general was just so so, sadly lacking of subtlety, as if the book was intended for eight years old.
A shame.

(I thank Netgalley and Erewhon Books for sending me the ARC in exchange for my honest review)