My library received this as an advanced reader's copy. Why, I'm not sure, since we own no other book in the series (which is not indicated on the book, so I had no idea it was part of a series). Since it was the 8th book, I assume that the lack of character explanation is because the author assumes the reader is familiar with the series. Personally, the plot and the style of writing were not my cup of tea. The frequent switching of character perspective made it difficult for me to get into the story. She also clearly set up a mystery for the next book, but I'm afraid I found the discussion of it quite distracting in this book, because there seemed to be no connection to the current story, just thrown in there for no reason.