(Note to self - check Dena's reviews because I would never have bothered with this if I'd seen her rating first)

What bothered me most about this book was that I could see the glimmerings of a good book beneath it. There was a really interesting story here - pirates, assassins, strange worlds...all of which were obscured by a complete lack of likable characters.
There are books in which one is not supposed to like the characters. I did not get the impression this was one of them. The book is written as though the protagonist is a good, loyal person who cares for others, is a bit prone to anger and is looking to make her mark on the world. The protagonist as portrayed, however, is nasty, petty and something of a hypocrite. These are perfectly acceptable qualities (some of my favorite protagonists are jerks!) and that would have been a fine story. But then the narrative and the people in it need to stop treating her like the former. Her habit of shouting at people for doing a specific thing and then going on to do that exact thing herself was a quality I found particularly grating, especially because no one ever calls her out on it. A character who lacks self-awareness is fine. When the narrative also lacks that self-awareness, I start to get grumpy.
And then there's Naji, the assassin, who manages to drive the plot of the entire book by being closed-mouthed FOR NO APPARENT REASON. Seriously, this book could have been so much shorter if our protagonists stopped shouting at each other and just had a conversation. I loathe this convention; so many authors do it and so few actually think through whether it makes sense in context.
Speaking of shouting at each other and conventions I hate, the romance also entirely failed to work for me. I've read Pride and Prejudice, I can absolutely buy in to falling in love as you get to know someone better. But, you know, it's not enough to show that your characters don't get along. You also need to portray the move towards appreciating one another. And that never happened.
Anyway, this book was disappointing. Which is a pity; I've heard good things about this author. I might try one of her other series and see if my problems with this book turn out to be "first novel issues" (which is totally possible) or whether Clarke is just not right for me. Either way, despite the cliffhanger ending, I have no desire to continue this series.