Interesting premise, and gorgeous writing! Just some pacing issues that kept me from enjoying the experience of reading this book. When half the chapters begin with a character waking up and half the story is blocks of exposition or narrative, it's just a bit hard to follow and stay engaged. Add that to an ending that was so abrupt that I thought I had overlooked the next chapter....I'm not sure why this was broken into a trilogy, as it seemed rather like a single volume arbitrarily cut up into mulitple parts.

I don't think I'll pick up the next books in the trilogy, unless I get bored and give it another read with a better experience enjoying it. However, I do think others could really enjoy it!

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for providing me with a digital copy for review!

I didn't think I was going to like this novel, but I ended up really liking it. I can't wait to grab the next in this trilogy! That being said I do have some issues that could be cleaned up.

I was left wanting more world building details and info about all the things brought up. I was confused occasionally about characters and places. Overall, definitely a 4-star read but could use some clean up in some places. I LOVE Mei though!

I felt like the parts with Rokura and Iggy, could have been moved to better places in the book... Also, the things that happened to Iggy???? I often was like, is there a point here? wait "WHO IS THIS AGAIN?" and then parts where new characters all together were introduced late book that should have been introduced earlier. I had to read some reviews and comments about the book to understand some plot points and that the current king was an imposter. I'm curious enough and liked the main characters enough that I want to continue but some details could be better explained. I'm hoping the next two books explain more because I shouldn't have to read comments and reviews to figure out what happened in the book.

Amazing first time book from this talented author. It is a very nice story, well built, with good characters. The lack of a map makes it a bit confusing, but it's OK.