Incendiary

I was afraid this would be a little too capital-F fantasy for me to enjoy but I really dug it. It helped that it's more of a spy/heist kind of a story, and I am fond of like the X-Men style of magic where people have different classes of magical abilities. The world building hit the sweet spot for me personally of being engaging and different without being like, “here's 50 pages of my fake language and 7 maps.” (Which I know some folks like but it's not for me!) Also nice to see a fantasy world that acknowledges that queer people exist and don't seem to be particularly oppressed, or at least, only if they happen to have the wrong kind of magic and not for their sexuality.

I did see the big twist coming before the protagonist did, which is rare for me tbh, but I kind of get that she was so shook by it and so involved with other things/her own memory problems that it didn't click for her.

I am eagerly looking forward to book 2!

I probably enjoyed this 4 stars but I'm awarding a bonus star in honor of the brilliant choice to name the protagonist Renata :)