If you haven't seen this book somewhere in the last month, you live in a box. LOL. No offense. It's been all over Facebook and instagram. Not to mention several groups and blogs. I sometimes get nervous about books that are so hyped. I'm glad that I picked this up at the HPB sale because I really enjoyed it.

This book is intense and full of politics, violence, class, and race. It's heavy. She does not shy away from it and that's not a bad thing. Especially, this day and age. It's really relevant to what this world is going through now.

I loved the world building, it was so detailed. She does a fantastic job with it. You get more than just all the pages of information dumps that drive me crazy. She weaves it into the plot and I never became bored. It doesn't keep the plot from flowing at all and it's one heck of a plot. So much action and so rich. It's definitely a unique story. I usually like different POV's but I felt like they didn't differ the much. There are three in this book and she needed to distinguish them a little more.

Character development was fantastic. Although, I love Zel, my favorite was Amari. To me, she has the most personal growth. She starts off as scared and insecure but becomes confident and strong. I think that Zel and Amari make the perfect team and I hope to see more of that as this story continues.

On that note, I didn't care for Inan much. I felt like he gave me a case of whiplash. One moment he's for the cause and all about it and then the next he's terrified of magic and is sure he needs to stop it. I understand that his dad really did a number on him but come on. People he saw using magic for harm, were trying to protect others. They had no choice. This is the conundrum though: choice. It's hard for people to understand that good and evil are a choice. Just because one person chooses one over the other, doesn't make them all the same.

Anyways, at the end I think there's some teasing about a love triangle. Best case, would be that the new option just becomes THE option. Since, I'm not a huge fan of Inan, I'm kind of all for a new love interest. This is crazy because I usually hate love triangles!

Overall, this is a really great read. It's fast paced and the story is just so interesting. The cliffhanger at the end is pretty awesome! I really can't wait for the next book. In this case, they hype is real.  I just heard that this has been picked up for a movie...