I really wanted to love this story. I actually like arranged marriage stories (though I know it can be an unpopular trope), and thought that the fantasy elements of this book seemed really cool. Now I liked how the author seemed to take bits and pieces of inspiration from other fantasy series (bit of House of Dragons, bit of His Dark Materials, etc.) and make those elements their own.
As for the characters, I adored Genya and I pretty much hated Mikhail. Genya is very young (19), very inexperienced, but adept at courtly matters because that's what he grew up learning. Mikhail is 30, and one giant man baby. So many of Genya's blunders or missteps in the relationship can be attributed to his young age, and his abusive father and brother. Yet every single time he doesn't react to something in the EXACT way Mikhail wants him to, Mikhail will storm off and pout while leaving Genya to spiral and try to figure out how to appease him. And when I say Mikhail expects Genya to react exactly how he wants, I'm not joking. At various points in this novel it's up to sweet Genya to try and navigate his husband's horrible temperament while getting almost no understanding from anyone else. There are times where Mikhail is the one to reach out to Genya, and he'll mentally resolve himself to do better, and then he gets mad at Genya once more for something minor and he goes back to avoidance and passive aggressiveness. Despite Genya only being 19, he's far more mature than his much older husband, and he's having to take on most the emotional labor in the relationship. Mikhail never seems to have empathy for the fact that he literally married a teenager who is being manipulated by his family, even though he KNOWS Genya is being manipulated and he still doesn't care to try and speak with him or understand him!
And then, when the pair finally seems to reach some sort of understanding, the book ends, which is a huge pet peeve of mine. I hate when books have all this tension and build up to the characters finally resolving their differences and truly becoming a couple, and then we don't get to see any of that healthy relationship because the book ends. Overall, this book got 3 stars because it had a really cool concept and I loved Genya, but Mikhail's immaturity and poor treatment of Genya just ruined it for me.