I think it was a really enjoyable read! Loved Maryse's whole conflict with her inner self and the hurt that was swelling up inside her, and I think it was a stroke of genius for her to reframe that in the end not as hatred, but a desire for righteous justice. She's recognising that she's not perfect, and I think that's a breath of fresh air considering how the "chosen one" in fiction has often been portrayed as this near-perfect hero. There was every opportunity for Maryse to lean into the vengeance that was fuelling her.
Sadie was great, super easy to like. I liked the idea of the aunties being the mysterious questbearers. In the Acknowledgement, I read that the author kind of intended for this book to be his own spin on the genre of sword-wielding heroes in fantasy worlds. He said, we've got one in Middle Earth (LOTR), we've got one for Westeros (A Song of Ice and Fire/GOT), let's take it somewhere else this time :cattoBlushSunglasses: In that sense, I'd say he took a lot of famous tropes from the fantasy/adventure genre and then just thrust it into the 1920s/ KKK era.
Only gripe I have is that it'd be nice to have seen a deeper exploration of the historical/political setting, because it felt more like he took a concept that many people would sort of have general familiarity with and ran with it. I guess I was expecting it to be more of a social commentary than a full-blown monster hunting adventure. But hey, I also was hoping it'd turn out like Dracula at the beginning and it was pretty much spot on in that aspect.
Also I liked the idea that Butcher Clyde was basically using the birth of a nation movie to stir up hate among the KKK and turn them into demons. I think it really shines the light on how big of a deal/influential that movie was at the time, with its legacy lasting even until today.
