*whew* this was a big book! I almost put it down a few times, but honestly the story and the writing kept bringing me back.

My favorite part and biggest complaint of this work was the world and character building. This is an entirely new system of continents, calendar, time keeping, gentry titles, magic system - pretty much you name it, its new! Which is cool, but...I wish the authors did a better job of weaving explanations of these things into the story, or provided a better addendum material to explain it. A single map, glossary, and lineage list just wasn't enough for me. The times I almost put it down where points where I got overwhelmed by the density of new terms and concepts.

However, the complexity of this world and the characters in it is what kept bringing me back. I really had to find out what would happen next and how everything was going to play out. Each time I thought I knew what was going to happen, I was happily surprised.

Also a shout out to how the LGBTQ individuals were introduced and integrated into he world. Sexuality and gender identity are fluid and varied and none of these things raise an eyebrow within the society - both upper crust and gutter rats. Love it!