4.5/5 stars

Wow - one of the most sweeping, epic, grand books I have ever read. It did take me until about a quarter of the way through the book to really feel attached to the story, and I never felt truly 'hooked' in the way I wish I had. I think I yearned for Tane to be a little less of a B character and to have as many scenes as Ead, which would have made sense since they both became equally crucial to the finale.
The skill with which Shannon slowly built the world brick by brick was incredibly impressive. I don't know how you hold a story with that depth in your brain and even start to put it to paper without getting completely lost in side plots, but she did it expertly.
I adored all of the relationships, and I adored that the gay relationships were more important than the straight ones. <3
There were many times I truly felt like it was never going to all come together, which meant that when it finally did it was so satisfying!
There have been times when I felt that a series of books should have just been one book, but I have never had the reverse happen where I felt like one book could have been split into more. Each part I think could have been expanded into its own novel, building to the finale of a trilogy or other. I think it would have allowed for some more exploration and flashbacks which would have gotten me more invested in the characters.
This has been a tough review to write because it's forcing me to figure out what exactly I didn't love that kept me from giving a true 5 stars. I will still highly recommend this to anyone who loves fantasy, it just wasn't exactly what I wanted it to be!