After the War of Kinds that ravished the land of Rabu, the country is trying everything to get back on its feet. It has been almost 48 years after the creation of the first Automa – a constructed, unnatural creature made to resemble humans in every way but their feelings and the other Kind has almost completely oppressed humans and adopted their culture as their own. Ayla is a war orphan, her work in a palace using her only as a cover for her actual whereabouts – an apprentice for one of the human rebel leaders. The hate towards the “higher” Kind that has been building up for years has been getting to its peak and it is only a matter of time before a complete offense against the Automa arises. Crier is the daughter of the most powerful man in the kingdom; ambitious and smart, with influential fiancée and bright future, but also one big problem that could ruin her life. 

Two enemies are forced to work together and find a way among court’s schemes and fights bigger than any of them imagined if they want to save their futures and ones they care about the most.

A court where gossip quickly turns into an enigmatic web of schemes and politics is not a place to play with. I really enjoyed Varela’s writing, her easygoing and intriguing worldbuilding that uncovers a world full of rotten rulers and histories gone wrong. The more I think about this book, I find myself discovering various layers of human nature and the inevitable curse of history repeating itself in an infinite doomed cycle. The problematics have risen between two Kinds – if one is superior, does that mean it should hold itself accountable over the other? Because how can the stronger side not see itself as somehow responsible for the other, without the urge to trample them and subject it to its rule – I don’t know. And what is to be done if one of your greatest creations adopts your culture and oppresses your entire race into oblivion? I guess as long as there is power there won’t be equality or anything close to peace.

Crier is an ambitious and intelligent heir with insightful and revolutionary ideas for both Kinds and their further coexistence, but who would listen to ideas of a seventeen-year-old girl? She is an Automa – a better, stronger, upgraded version of the human race that was supposed to look down on them like animals, but her whole life she was drawn to them, almost as she can sympathize with them. When she found out her Design is flawed – meaning she carried a fifth column that enables her to feel passion, Crier spent a good time of this book figuring out how to deal with feelings she physically wasn’t supposed to have. Her kind wasn’t supposed to feel, but she can’t do a damn thing when it comes to beautiful Ayla who she’s supposed to hate. She finds out she isn’t the only one with a vision, but pursuing that goal might take away her entire future and everything she’d worked for. Unexpected alliances and dangerous spywork will bring her on the verge of a war with her father and her Scyre, but Crier is ready and she won’t be afraid to embrace her vision.

“Justice was a god, and Ayla didn’t believe in such childish things. She believed in blood.”

Ayla is supposed to hate Crier by every principle - she even planned her assassination in her head more times than she can count. But when she finally has the chance to do it, there is something about Crier that strikes her and makes her falter. Ayla has only had one thing on her mind for the last eight years and that is vengeance for her family. Love is a weakness and it’ll make her hurt even more if she lets anything in again, but wars aren’t won by brute force. What she needs is something big – knowledge that could destroy the entire royal line and bring down the entire Automa population. Battling her feelings with an urge to avenge her family, she’ll find out she has more allies on the court than she thought, but everything comes with a price. She’s suffered too much already, but as it seems her fight is far from over.

I loved everything about this book, except pacing was a bit inconsistent and dull. This book took a lot of time to build tension and plot necessary for a revolution, which made it a bit monotone and boring for my liking. Action scenes were few to none, and even schemes and plans seemed transparent from time to time. Even though I can see where everything’s going and that the first book was an introduction of a sort, I wish it was a little bit more interactive and dynamic.

“If a spider weaves her web to catch flies and catches a butterfly instead, what does the spider do?

She eats the butterfly.”