I wasn't sure what to expect from this book. I was worried that it would be a more grim fantasy story with a lot of violence and pain, maybe like Ashes of the Sun by Django Wexler. There are definitely dark elements and high stakes, but the characters are really charming and easy to invest in. There is always a running theme that finding and caring for people is good, even though sometimes there are betrayals and mistakes. There were a couple turns the plot took that were refreshing compared to where I expected the story to go. A lot of plot was crammed in here. It felt much longer than it was, in the best way. The audiobook narration was pretty good as well. I'm definitely looking forward to more from this series.