Like, honestly the Murtagh presented in this book is the perfect cult victim. He's isolated, in a transitional period of his life, looking for answers, looking for guidance, has mommy issues with a cult that has a matron theme, is educated, he agrees with some of what they're doing and has something they want. I thought the character changes were going that direction before the plot did a 180.

There's a lot of clumsy foreshadowing that indicates Murtagh joining a cult. A lot of elevating the state of not thinking and being a part of a group.