Love, a glowing lantern in their hearts; hunger, a liquid heat in their bellies; souls, dark wells in their eyes. Secret Room: Scyre Kinok has an alchemical laboratory hidden in a secret room behind his quarters, where he is working on creating a new substance to replace heartstone. I was hooked right from the start into this unique world the author creates, where Automae, humans re-made with better abilities, rule and Humans are inferior. The world-building is absolutely fantastic, with a complex history and rules of its own. I was curious from the start and, as I read on, I was fascinated. I couldn’t stop reading. Maybe it’s just because I majored in Folklore and Mythology and I’m already fully sold on the idea of ritual as a fundamental human trait, but I found this passage quite moving and a great example of the kind of concepts the book is getting at.

Love Is a Weakness: Ayla refuses to let herself feel anything for Benjy, since she believes it will "weaken" her.

Ayla meets Wender at a party at Queen Junn’s palace, and learns that the only reason most of the attendees show up is to catch (And spread) the latest gossip. Ayla obviously doesn’t have any gossip to spread herself, but learns from Wender about Crier running away from her wedding. And the switching of narratives between the two opposing sides, initially made me feel out of place. Or conflicted over which narrator to trust/like. In other books whenever this happened, the two usually had the same stance or viewpoint of the book so it wasn’t so jarring. Crier sees the Automae as peaceful rulers, while Ayla exposes them for being anything but and wants to kill Crier for revenge over the death of her family and so many others. Then the two collide when Ayla decides not to let Crier die after she stumbles off a cliff, because there might be a way to use Crier to get information for a human revolution against the Automae. While Crier is pretty much out of it because she learned there is a flaw in her design, as she has a fifth pillar called Passion.

Politically-Active Princess: Lady Crier has ambitions of joining the Red Hands, the ruling council, and has many ideas for political reforms in Zulla. She is crushed when Hesod keeps forcing her out of the room, metaphorically and once literally. Crier escapes from her wedding by swapping clothes with Faye and walking down the hallways used by the servants, trusting the guards not to give a second look at a human servant about her work. Oh my god the romance in this had me SCREAMING. It’s so beautifully soft, slow-burning and filled with TENSION and little moments and it’s the kind of torture I’m okay with because the yearning god. Crier was Made to be beautiful, flawless, and to carry on her father’s legacy. But that was before her betrothal to the enigmatic Scyre Kinok, before she discovered her father isn’t the benevolent king she once admired, and most importantly, before she met Ayla. Crier almost questioned that—it was no secret that Council-member Reyka hated everything about the Anti-Reliance Movement, including Kinok himself. But another word caught her attention. “A scandal?” she asked. “What kind of scandal?”

Additionally, while I was excited when she first turned up, I did not think Automae Queen Junn’s arc was handled particularly well, as she ended up being a flat rendition of the bloodthirsty, ambitious queen trope. Powered by a Forsaken Child: Kiera, the first Automa, needed to consume human blood to function. The older she got, the more blood she needed. Thomas Wren eventually found out how to manufacture heartstone to serve in place of blood for the Automa who followed Kiera. Heartstone was still based on human blood, processed through an alchemical process so it could support more Automae with the same amount. The book is set in a fantasy world wherein several generations ago, wealthy humans created artificial life-forms, called Automae, to be their servants and/or humanoid pets (yikes). The Automae rebelled, won a war with humanity, and are now the ruling class while humans serve them. The plotline of the servant class overthrowing the overlords who are now the servant class in a fantasy universe gave me major Claidi Journals vibes. (Has anyone else read the Claidi Journals series by Tanith Lee? It’s been over a decade for me but those books made a huge impression on me as a teen). Having now read the entire book, I still think the comparison is apt, although Crier’s War doesn’t rely as much on crazysauce box-within-a-box-style plot twists to keep its forward momentum going. Unresolved Sexual Tension: Crier is obsessively fixated on Ayla after their very first meeting, and after spending time with her Ayla begins to find her own feelings for Crier growing as well. Crier believes that such feelings are the result of her Flawed Design, and Ayla is plotting Crier's death and the overthrow of the Automae, so neither can act on their feelings. They finally admit and act on their feelings towards the end of the second novel. Now, with growing human unrest across the land, pressures from a foreign queen, and an evil new leader on the rise, Crier and Ayla find there may be only one path to love: war. Chapter 1-6