This book was a lot of fun, but I don’t know that there is anything extraordinary about it? I’ve been having a difficult time rating/reviewing this because although I enjoyed the story something just fell a bit flat IMO. Something is just missing from this story, and even after taking all this time to think about it, I cannot figure out what it is. It might be just me. I just felt like the events leading up to and including the conclusion were really anticlimactic, and overall this story just wasn’t exactly satisfying. I had fun reading it, but it left me a bit disappointed…I wanted more.

I preferred most of the secondary characters to the MC, or I guess I should say that the secondary characters totally upstaged Yalena. This story is all about her, and yet I didn’t feel any emotional attachment to her, even after her back story and character growth. I can appreciate her, but didn’t really care for her. *shrugs* The plot was straight forward enough, there were definitely some twists but nothing that necessarily knocked me off my feet (besides the twist with the Commander that was INCREDIBLE). The story felt pretty familiar to me, and I’m not sure if that is a result of me reading so much YA fantasy or if it was just the writing itself. There was a lot that I enjoyed, but unfortunately it doesn’t make up for the fact that I felt like something was just missing from this book?

I will admit that this was a strong start for the rest of the series, and I absolutely will continue. But my continuation at this point is more for the secondary characters, a genuine interest in where the plot will go next, and a direct result of my heart being really into the small romance subplot this book provided (like really, really into it), and not at all for Yalena (but I’m hoping that changes). I’m also hoping that the rest of the series gives me what I thought was missing from this.