The evilness of her father was almost suffocating and for a man to be so cruel really scared me. The childhood Adelina went through is unimaginably painful with an abundance of abuse and without a mother to lean on for support. The memories she has of her mother are probably the only thing that kept her from going insane. When the news of the Young Elites(malfettos that gain powers) hits her district, her father's inhuman acts against Adelina only grew further. All he wanted was for her to 'reveal' her powers so he could sell her off and get gold in return. He chose to do this by making her feel like she was lesser than dirt and riled her up whenever possible. He wanted her to explode with power and she never did until the one night she gathered enough courage to run away... 
 Now you may be thinking, Adelina sounds like a very innocent and completely broken after her life of hardship but that's not what she was. And that only makes her character so much more realistic. She may be broken in many ways because of her father but she is a force to be reckoned with for the same reason. She will 
 not 
 take anymore bullshit that's thrown her way as her power builds. Her character development is phenomenal and she's healing her wounds the same way any traumatized person would. The world she lives in is changing everyday and the danger to her life increases every second. Though her life is not the only life she values, as she grows to care for the people who helped her with her powers who all share the threat to their lives. 
 Another thing I loved about this book was the world. There may have been corrupt kings and deadly diseases but there were so many beautiful myths and stories mentioned and they never failed to pique my interest. Their three moons and many festivals brought joy to a book of terror, power, conflicted feelings and betrayals. This book is definitely very different to the Legend trilogy which is contrary to what I thought. I also loved that even though so many people hated the malfettos because of their markings, they still had some supporters. It was nice that not everyone turns a blind eye to the injustices they have to live through. 
 The characters in this book were all very interesting and the multiple points of views only added to their complexity. Take one of the villains for example, Teren Santoro is definitely one of the most complicated characters I have ever read about and from all the characters in this book I am mostly excited about seeing how he changes throughout this trilogy. His story is very compelling, like all the characters, and I cannot wait to see what happens in The Rose Society. (which is coming out really soon! On the 13th of October actually and I am so so excited to read it!) 
 I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a Dark Fantasy novel because this is definitely one of the best!