Thank you to NetGalley and Del Rey for the e-ARC!

Synopsis: Essentially a villain origin story for the Evil Queen from Snow White (and she’s queer!). It’s set in a world where the magic of witches has been outlawed and the witches themselves have gone into hiding. Ayleth, our future Evil Queen, has lost her sister and is being forced into becoming the heir of her coven despite having very little magic of her own. In order to prove herself, she runs away to the capital city in order to infiltrate the royal palace and steal back magical artifacts that once belonged to the witches. Let’s say it doesn’t go exactly to plan…..

I read this book in essentially two sittings because I could not put it down. Despite some clunky exposition in the beginning, Walter’s writing style pulled you in and kept you wanting more. I have to say its been a while where I felt a story was perfectly paced, so thank you Heather.

The story paid homage to Regina’s arc from ‘Once Upon a Time’ (mommy issues, an initially friendly bond with the Snow White, the loss of a true love, ripping out hearts) without being too derivative. For any Tudor history nerds out there, the White King, Queen Sybil and the High Priest are hinted to be fictional counterparts to Henry VIII, Katherine of Aragon and Cardinal Wolsey respectively. I thought that was a nice touch and you can pick up easter eggs if you really know your history. (like the use of a pomegranate as Queen Sybil’s sigil, IYKYK).

My heart absolutely broke for Ayleth and I desperately want her to have a happy ending even though I know she won’t. I feel her journey is so typical of many young women in their early 20’s who are trying to figure out who they are. I appreciate that Walter made this world morally gray without being too grim dark. For the most part, no one is truly good or evil, they are just people who very often make selfish choices.

And the ending was an absolute banger. Ayleth broke bad and it was completely understandable.

I could have done without the repetitive use of the phrase ‘like calls to like’ but, overall a 4 star read.