finishing a book thats so good and then remembering most of your friends arent readers... so you can't yap about the book and expect them to understand... this book is about to make me cry I NEED TO YAP ABOUT THEMMMMMM 💔💔

And hence I will do so in this rentry post because I feel like I would look insane if i put all this into the review itself lol.

This book was such a treat im gonna miss the feeling I got while reading this for the first time !!

I loved the pacing and the characters were fleshed out so well !! the way they contrasted each other..Especially Leszy and Liska was amazing. They completed each other and helped each other through the whole book instead of a typical "prince charming saves distressed princess" route and I think hayao miyazaki would be really happy about that !!
I really hope Poranek continues to write about these characters because I love them too much to let them go aaaa

Also with the ending..

It was so bittersweet but I felt that Leszy dying was the best way out for him and a nice ending.
BUT. with the way Poranek ended the book?? the last sentence???
had me pacing my room and looking at all the reviews I could. I love the idea of a open ending but I really wish we could get a novella or anything that could tell us what happend next 💔💔 Someone made a pretty solid point that he might've come back as a spirit (due to the concept of objects having a spirit being a pretty big thing in the book) and since his power is tied to Liska's he'll be able to become human for short amounts of time since shes technically his power source !! I will stay delusional and everyone can pry this theory from my cold, dead hands !!

There were some typical cheesy tropes thrown in that made me question if I wanted to DNF it at the beginning.... yet they were done in such a good way that, instead of cringing, I was actually giggling????

And it was kinda funny because I hadn't giggled or done anything like that since like.. 5th grade when I would check out those cheesy romance novels made for middle schoolers. The difference is, this isnt a cheesy romance made for middle schoolers. I genuinely think that young adults and adults (who are okay with nothing freaky happening in books) can enjoy this book and appreciate how well done it is and especially for a debut novel !!

The nicknames were a little cheesy tho but it's okay because it shows a difference between two characters and mirrors them !! (fox & mouse iykwim)

Anyways I read the ending and had to shut the book like 3 times because Poranek made the characters so lovable...(even with the leszy and his issues with his past apprentices...) The ending hit me so hard I was feeling pain for every single character. Maksio writing "where is the leszy?" at the end had me in shambles. if you were quiet enough at that time, you would have been able to hear my heart shattering into thousands of tiny pieces </3

I will be going to therapy (ao3) and hopefully find a way to start writing stories that are readable so I can fill this horrible hole in my heart

just like Florian who had a hole in his heart hahahahhahaha (bursts into tears) Florian come back I miss you :((

so !! ending this rant with how much I loved this book.
I will be thinking about this book for like. the rest of my life.