I adored The Tethered Mage. I was interested right from the beginning and the further into it I got the more I loved it. 

It is an extremely political fantasy, full of intrigue, and so won't be for everyone - but politics is my favourite theme in SFF fiction and this does it so well.  The main character Amalia is the heir to one of the most powerful families in the empire, and over the course of the book takes on the burden of power while also beginning to question some of the empire's practices. As it is the first in a trilogy, I expect that many of these themes will carry on into the sequels. 

I really like the characters in this book. I do note that the blurb implies that Zaira (the titular mage) is as much of a main character as Amalia, which is not really the case and not only because the book is written in first person from Amalia's point of view.  I liked their relationship though, as well as Amalia's relationship with her mother, and also a slowly developing romance with another significant character. 

This is probably one of the best books I've read so far this year, and particularly towards the end I could not put it down. I now really want to read book two.