I really really wish I could say I liked this book--I like a lot of the worldbuilding, and the plotting is rather entertaining. There's steamy romance, a hard nosed assassin with a good heart and a great talent for cooking. There are some fascinating secondary characters. I have a minor grievance with opting for ice rather than water and stone rather than earth as the major elemental powers against fire and air, but that's authorial choice.

This big problem, and the reason I had to put this book down is that the author keeps repeating descriptions, explanations and phrases about her characters, motivation, landscape etc. I don't mind a little catch-up at the beginning of a story. I easily forgave the first chapters of rehashing, since every series author has to do some of it. But it didn't stop. I don't need to have Sophia's goth character mentioned every time she steps in screen. I don't need to know again that Finn is a ladykiller and a financial criminal. I don't need to have Caine's conflict with liking Gin reiterated again and again.

Please Please more show less tell. We don't need endlessly to be reminded of traits and the like. We know by now Southland is dangerous, that the Pork Pit means everything to Gin, that Sophia talks in grunts. Tell the audience once and then trust them to remember the details and simply show your characters without adding the narrative to explain them.

I can't finish this book. If there's one deathsong for me in a book that I should otherwise like, it's writing that keeps tripping me up and making me annoyed. Simon Green does it to me too, for different reasons. I really wanted to like Estep's series, but after this, I think I'll leave it to others.