Great setup, poor execution. Repeatedly suffers from "the only reason for X is because otherwise the story would be over". The alternate narration sections are wonderful, but the tenses and precision disqualify them as the stories told to the protagonist that they're supposed to be. The magic system in ingenious, but has elements that are sometimes critical to the plot and sometimes ignored and discarded, and this is never explained. From the beginning, the reader is beat over the head with information meant to be part of the penultimate reveal, such that it's infuriating to watch the characters somehow get taken by surprise. Characters are reckless and unimaginative, only to have their decisions described as careful and creative. I'm mad that such a fantastic idea for a story received a treatment so ham-slap-dash-handed.