So, as a note, I got this book as part of the 2026 Brighter than the Stars bundle. I wrote a review of this on Bluesky and Storygraph, but I want to reiterate my thoughts here because this is where you can buy the book, and I will open with a question: should you purchase this novel?
Yes, with some caveats.
The answer is a resounding yes if you like any of the following:
- A lot of high quality spice
- An exploration of what it means to worship divines that can reach down and touch (and, at times, even love) you
- A very thoughtful look into someone with deep trauma and insecurity and how that influences her every interaction with the world outside of herself
- An aura of sweetness that can shift into anxiety-ridden dread with nary a whisper of a warning
- Some excellent trans characters
I wish nothing more than the best for Mada and it breaks my heart to watch how the world sharpened its knives against her. If you are looking for an exquisite exploration of love blooming in the ashen forests left behind by years of deeply built trauma, this is for you. You're doing yourself a disservice by not picking up this title.
My only qualms with the work mainly fall into a handful of minor editing mistakes. I noticed a couple of paragraphs (especially towards the end) where paragraphs weren't indented properly or it seemed like a word may have been dropped, but nothing that I saw was such that it would be improbable that it was just a relic of the .epub file. Still, I feel like it is worth mentioning these either way. In spite of that, the overall technical skill displayed with the work is sublime. Cirice is an author that I will definitely be keeping an eye on into the future.
(This is very long, I do apologize, but the novel has but two comments and I really do feel like this deserves a lot more attention than it has received. x3 Anyways!)