empressbrooke
The most striking thing to me about this book was that it really just serves as a set-up for everything that will come. It introduces the characters, explains the rules of the universe, and puts all the pieces in place where the plot will go later, but the plot itself doesn't really make a strong showing here. That isn't to say this was boring - it most certainly was not. But unlike some trilogies where book 1 has a fully contained story with threads that a book 2 can pick up, this is absolutely not a standalone and would not be satisfying without knowing that the rest of the story will be coming.