I’m having a hard time formulating my thoughts on this one. I didn’t dislike the story, but I didn’t love it either. It was very slow reading and brutal throughout. Loosely based on the Crusades, it did not reflect well on the Christian pilgrims, though blamed the demons manipulating them for all of the bloodshed.

I liked the relationship between Luca and Suzan, though Luca was pretty immature at times and pouted a lot.

Luca’s father bothered me a lot. I felt he should have been a lot more understanding of Luca and is ability to hear demons even before he could see them. His father knew, but never discussed it with Luca and hid  information that could have been useful to him.

The other character that bothered me throughout was Mattiolas. I never truly trusted him and kept waiting for him to betray Luca and Suzan, though in the end he never did. I think it was all his talk of gold and riches that kept me convinced he would turn on them. I’m glad I was wrong though.

The story dragged in places and skipped over things in others, but the author was committed to the world building, so that was good.

Disclaimer: I received a DRC through Net Galley on behalf of the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.