4.5 Stars

Wow. This book was pretty intense. I had no idea what to expect from this book. I went in pretty much blind.

World-building: I really enjoyed the world-building going on in this book. It was definitely very foundational in terms of the content and pacing. This world is Roman Empire-esque, and has a very complex political and social structure. However, even though there was quite of bit of exposition setting up the world, Sabaa Tahir does a wonderful job at weaving the information into an interesting narrative. It never felt 'info-dumpy' to me.

Characters: This story is told through a dual-perspective structure in first person. The two main characters are Elias, a reluctant soldier/assassin for the Empire, and Laia (pronounced Lie-uh), a girl who becomes a slave in order to gain information for a group that promises to help her imprisoned brother. I like both of these characters. Kaia is a little naive at first, but her character grows a great deal throughout the story. Elias is great as well, and his internal conflicts are very compelling. I really enjoyed their scenes together, and the potential for their relationship to progress is there. It was definitely a very slow burning thing though. Each of them also have other love interests that take up their thoughts.

Keenan, Laia's other love interest, doesn't really do anything for me. I don't think they had enough scenes together to really convince me that they really even know each other, much less love each other. I actually want to know what is going to happen in subsequent books with him and another character, who I won't name because spoilers and all.

Helene, Elias' potential love interest, I get a little more. She and Elias have known each other since they were children and they have quite a bit in common since they have both trained as assassins since that time. However, I don't really care for Helene. I get that she is a product of her upbringing and the world that she is living in, but her apathy toward oppressed people is really ugly. I was surprised to see how many people have her as their favorite character. I appreciate a few of the things she does (which again...not gonna mention because spoilers)

Plot: Again, this book is foundational in nature. In many ways, it's a very character-driven story, although there are also external plots for each character: Laia is trying to get her brother freed from prison by spying for a group that wants to rebel against the Empire, and Elias has to compete in a set of challenges in order to survive and perhaps be free.

I do think that the book starts out a little slow. It wasn't until about page 60 or so that I felt myself becoming invested in this story. But after that it was a very quick read. I didn't want to put it down.

One other thing that I wanted to say isn't really a complaint. It's more like a trigger warning. This book is marketed as a YA book. And technically, I guess it is, since the main characters are young adults. But there is quite a bit of brutality in this novel. The violence gets pretty graphic, and rape is spoken of many many times in an off-the-cuff manner that shows that it is not an uncommon occurrence. If this is something that you are sensitive to, I would not recommend this book.

However, I really enjoyed this book. I can't wait for the next in the series...I need it now.