Holy moly, what a ride. A prequel that ties into the second book. The only gripe I had was that it does retread a lot of ground. Something that has to happen with some degree, due to series wanting each to be read stand-alone. But it also made me crave more from the reasoning and motivations of an established character, which it didn’t quite deliver. However the pressure cooker plot and elucidation it does provide still makes this instalment above board.