What this book does so well is in the poetic nature of how the themes of family, love, loss, and the beauty of life are explored. The wording is just beautiful and really lends to mystical feel of the alien world/society. The last 20% of the book really guts you and puts you back together better than before.

Jessica is a likable character and quite relatable for me. She, like most people, wants with all her heart to belong in a family and to have her own soulmate, something completely possible in this universe. She does need to do a little soul searching to really understand what that looks like, but her heart is so open and welcoming that she doesn’t even have to try to belong in the tribe.

Though Katedo takes longer to come around due to his own past trauma, he really shows up when it counts. He’s been without a partner for such a long time that it seems he doesn’t even know how to be with someone at first. But Jessica quickly has him wrapped around her finger, and nothing is better than a man obsessed with his woman. He has to do some growing near the end that I appreciate seeing in male characters.