First read, will continue with the series, but as it was only the first read, it was an automatic 3 star and I would have to read it a second time to give it a proper rating. I would likely enjoy reading it a second time, but it would have to wait until next year.

Have since read again, just a few months after reading it the first time, and even though it has been a couple of days, and I've read (or completed) another book, I feel that I have finally gotten my thoughts together on this book.
I did enjoy the book just as much the second time as the first time and I feel that it was good enough that I am actually tempted to break my rule about borrowing ebooks from the library because I have a hard time focusing on reading a book when it is on a screen--I always want to make changes. :)
However, on a more serious note, the characters were memorable and I truly do think that she wrote them well. I did care for the characters, though there was one that I truly did not care for as much the second time around as I did the first, but I think that is more because I knew what was going to happen, in the end.
There is drama, and a feud, and there is someone attempting to keep the peace, if that were possible. Each character had their own personality and they were well written, the plot was more than a typical high school drama plot (though that was involved as well), and it kept you interested from start to finish. I actually had to force myself to slow down on reading it the second time, because I have to say that it is a book that deserves to be savored. Is it on my list of favorites? No, but it is very close. It has a very good chance of making it on my list of top books read in 2020. I put a four star down, but in reality, it was more like a four point seventy-five star rating for me (which is completely subjective to my whim of the moment).

I really enjoyed this book. The book is set in a fantasy world that is Egyptian inspired, I am certain, with the way that the world is described. It takes place over the course of a year and the main character is a young boy who is forced to serve the enemy of his countrymen because they took over his family property.

It starts out with the MC in a rather horrible situation, but he is taken into a better situation. The book is very good--the first of a quartet and I have to say that I am certain that the others will be just as good, if not better. I have to admit that Mercedes Lackey is one of my first favorite authors and I am slowly working on collecting everything she has written, I enjoy her writing style that much!

Was not for me. It was...interesting in premise, but I did not like the writing style, even though it is the first of a trilogy, I have absolutely no interest in reading any others in the trilogy, or even any other works written by her at this time. Perhaps at a later date.

I really enjoyed this book, though it didn't entirely go along the lines that I was expecting. I enjoyed the story of Malichai, who in his own way stood away from his fellow GhostWalkers. I truly wasn't sure if she would write his story or not, but now I'm very excited to go back and review the earlier books and see how this one is different from them. I find it to be rather fascinating how she set this one up and how it shows that they are actually growing in individual ways, as well as a group. She shows that when the book of one is over, it doesn't mean she stops developing those characters, but rather has them grow along with the series, and I'm very glad about that.

I also enjoy how the story line was done and how the plot was spun. I'm a little sad about what happened to Malichai, but I also understand that there was a reason for it--and not just to drive the plot, it also allowed for his character to grow and to show him some truths about himself that he had not been willing to face, or admit to.