However, I ended up loving the second half of the book a ton. This is definitely a slow burn mystery for quite awhile. The whole first part of the story where Triss is trying to figure out why she feels different was flat out boring at points. Unfortunately, that means this started out really really slow.

Writing Style (4/5): This is writing beautifully with amazing description and great care and thoughtfulness. I enjoyed the discussions of how the fae are trying to survive in this new more technological world and enjoyed getting a glimpse into their small secret places. It’s an interesting setting and has widespread implications for how a lot of the adult characters act towards certain things. Setting (4/5): This takes place in a suburb of London right after WWI. I enjoyed some of the side characters more, especially some of the rather intriguing fae characters that flit in and out of the story. She does grow and change as the book continues. She never really knows herself so it’s hard to really like her. Characters (4/5): Triss was okay as a character but I never engaged with her all that well. While this wasn’t as good as 'A Face Like Glass' or 'Deeplight' but still a well done story and beautifully written. Also the idea of someone being replaced by something that’s not them but not realizing they’ve been replaced it‘s super creepy. There are some interesting concepts behind how the fae survive and thrive. Story (4/5): This started out super slow but I ended up enjoying it once all the strange fae creatures started appearing.

No complaints though, this was a great book to listen to on audiobook. The narrator did speak pretty slow for me, so I ended up listening to this at 1.2x. Audiobook Quality (4/5): The narration of this book was very well done and pleasant to listen to. I borrowed this as an audiobook through Audible Plus. Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book.

Cuckoo song frances hardinge summary