The beginning of this book was slow, and hard to get through, honestly. I took a few breaks from reading it because of that, and even now that I'm done I honestly couldn't be sure I've gotten a complete hold on who was paired with who, and all of the terminology Deonn introduced (Vassal, Scion, Squire, Liege, etc etc). Still, I enjoyed the middle and end of this book, and really appreciated the pickup in pace as I got closer to the end. The characters are very endearing, though I hope it doesn't lean too heavily on a love triangle between Nick, Bree, and Sel. The plot twists were good and added up, and I was worried about how Deonn would combine two different lores, but they definitely connected up and felt like the same concept from different viewpoints. Still, I enjoyed it enough to pick up the second one and be excited for the rest of the series.