I was pretty much a crackhead addicted to this read at first. It was hard to put down, don't you dare do it type of read with endless sleepless nights spent living with no regrets book until I was half way through the read and the momentum started to plummet downwards. Fast. And the plummet started happening due to my utter dislike for the heroine Alice. Talk about a dumb broad. She was careless with her actions despite being warned time and time again everyone and their mother the pain she could affleck to others yet did she listen? Noooooo! This dumb dumb decided to do the complete opposite. And should we talk about her childish behavior? Nope. Not gonna go there. I just can't fandom how I couldn't find any redeeming qualities about our leading lady. With her as the shitty ass heroine I have to thank the big guy upstairs for blessing me with Crowley's presence. He was the only thing keeping me strong. Bless his heart. And on that note, let's talk about the romance. Like why? I honestly saw no point including the half-ass romance in the story since their 'feelings' only appeared towards the end of the novel, waaaaaaay before the final throughout the span of what… 2-3 pages? Then it went MIA. Like how are you going to ghost us like that yo? And why waste everyone's time building up the possible relationship momentum if nothing is going to actually happen? At all. It was beyond lackluster and that only lowered the rating score. This had so much potential and I had such high hopes for this read yet once hitting that halfway point, it quickly diminish to pile of blah. This would've had turned out better if they cut out the heroine (kill her off would have been better to be honest) and just made this a YA fantasy instead further exploring characters and their stories of being an aviarist.

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A sense of violence, mystery, intrigue, magic and foreboding is very quickly established in the short prologue to this fantastical story. It cleverly sets the scene for the magical, often dangerous journey which Alice will have to navigate if she is to discover how to find and rescue Jen’s nightjar, as returning the bird is the only way she has any hope of saving her best friend’s life. However, before she can achieve this she must learn how to develop her nascent skills, to gradually discover who she really is and what her legacy is. To do this she must, with Crowley’s help, enter into the Rookery, accepting him as her guide to this alternate London, a place which is not only full of magic and potential new relationships, but also of danger and violence so, as it is never clear who can and can’t be trusted, an ever-increasing tension runs throughout the story. As Alice is forced to begin to adjust to this strange new world, her concerns about Jen’s fate and the dangers the family she has left behind are an ever-present anxiety, meaning that she constantly feels torn between two conflicting worlds.
I felt very quickly drawn into this story, particularly enjoying the descriptions of an alternate London, which could be entered only by someone who knew how to gain access through a magic portal. It featured some locations which, although recognisable looked slightly, and a bit disconcertingly, different, whilst others were distinctly strange and disturbing, reflecting the constant dissonance Alice experienced as she tried to adjust to not only her new environment, but also to her magical powers. The author conjured up a vivid picture of the secretive, magical, mythical world of the Rookery, a place built originally as a refuge for Finnish pagans who were resisting conversion to Christianity. It’s a society entire unto itself, with its own police force, its own set of rules and punishments and which is divided into four distinct “houses”, each with its own legacy of different magical powers. It’s difficult to say much about these “legacies” without spoiling the development of the plot so all I will say is that they play a significant part, both positively and negatively, in how the various characters influence the outcome!
The cast of characters inhabiting this world includes, amongst others, necromancers, spies and gangsters – but distinguishing the “goodies” from the “baddies” remained a continuing challenge throughout the story because all had vested interests and were not above using various deceptions to achieve their ends! The pace of the developing plot felt almost relentlessly frenetic, with constant twists and turns, and one red herring after another. Although I initially found this quite exciting, after a time I felt that I wanted to know more about the various characters who were being introduced and often felt frustrated by the lack of character development. Whilst I thought that Alice and Crowley were relatively multi-dimensional and well-developed, and I enjoyed the ambiguities in their developing relationship, I felt that most of the other, potentially interesting, characters were disappointingly one-dimensional ... I found myself yearning to know much more about them!
Initially I felt drawn to Alice, empathising with all the adjustments she was having to face as she attempted to come to terms with her newly discovered magical powers, with her need to reassess all she had ever accepted about herself and with her ongoing struggles to decide who she could trust. However, it wasn’t long before she started to seriously irritate me! Not only was she was very stubborn and impulsive, but she seemed incapable of learning anything from the mistakes she made by being so impulsive, even when her behaviour resulted in creating danger for herself – and for others. Whilst I enjoy flawed characters, I do find stubbornly stupid ones less easy to engage with … however, as this debut novel appears to be laying the foundations for an ongoing series perhaps, given time, she will improve!
Although I did find the ending rather too abrupt to make this a totally satisfying stand-alone novel, and found some of the plot developments rather predictable, on the positive side there were a number of shocking twists which I didn’t; these not only added a welcome depth to the story but increased my admiration for the author’s story-telling abilities.
I must admit that I’ve struggled with my rating! Initially it felt as though the story was building to warrant a 5* one but as it progressed, and as will be evident from my earlier reflections, I began to find some aspects increasingly irritating and felt that the lengthy action-packed descriptions were at the expense of more in-depth character development. However, whilst a true reflection of my overall enjoyment of the story would be a three-and-a-half-star rating, I’ve rounded it up to four to reflect my admiration for the author’s creation of such an enchanting magical world in her debut novel!
With thanks to NB and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. ( )