The Enlightened said we had to keep making sacrifices, otherwise the air would become petrified and we’d die like fossils in the haze. We trust their messages because they possess all three of the Chosen’s virtues. They’re emissaries of the light; that’s why they have the Minor Saints’ ethereal voices, the Full Auras’ prophetic vision and the Diaphanous Spirits’ perfect pitch. They’re meditators between us and the ancestral divinity, the hidden God who has always existed, who predates the gods created by men.

😇 Let’s start with the cover! That one is amazing.
😇 The words. How the story is written. The creativity with the names of the cult. It all just flowed like poetry and I loved it.
😇 The setting. The church. The orchard around it. The gardens. The ranking in the cult from Him to the head sister to the various special people (though since I read enough cult books I knew that getting to that rank seemed good but definitely isn’t). Not just in mutilation (depending on what the girls get ranked in) but also another thing. And then there are the Unworthy and the servants. We read about services, about punishments and torture, we read how the Unworthy will do anything and everything to get to a higher ranking or get into the good book with the head sister/Him. And yes, anything. From torture to snitching to poisoning to self-harm. Whatever was needed. It was shocking but I also couldn’t stop reading. I was hoping to see one person with sense. And thankfully, we do meet a couple, though they aren’t completely OK given all they have been through.
😇 Our MC was an interesting one and I loved seeing her write her thoughts and feelings on paper. All in secret of course because no one can find these it would mean she would be killed or sacrificed or something else horrific. Ink going from blood to flowers to whatever else she can find. I loved seeing her thoughts on where she was. On who she was. On her feelings. I just wanted to step in so many times and steal her away from this place. Yes, the outside also isn’t the safest given the memories we get, not to mention the things we see, but it must be better than this horrific cult. For most I really liked our MC but she had some things that were just a bit iffy. Then again given all she went through before the cult (including rape) and all she been through at the cult, it is no wonder she became twisted.
😇 When Lucia appeared. OMG I was just hoping that she and our MC would get a happy ending. Lucia was such a sweet and interesting character and I loved how unfazed she was when certain girls got jealous of her acceptance.

😑 I am quite happy I didn’t know it was this climate change ruined the world heavy, because otherwise I would have skipped this book. Everyone who knows me knows that I just cannot handle reading about climate change in books. We already get it enough in newspapers and on social media/online and I just need to escape from it. When I read that the world collapsed in the blurb I thought maybe like power outage worldwide and nothing coming back. Or a pandemic (with or without the zombies). But not in great details in her memories about how the world changed because of climate change and how things got more and more bad. NOPE.
😑 The ending. I am sorry, I had such high hopes and was rooting for everyone and then it just ends like that? NOPE. Heck no.

But all in all despite those two points, I am happy I got this book and it was definitely a ride. I would recommend it.