Did I eat this book up? Yes.
Will I look forward to the next books? Also yes.
Do I think this book is necessarily special? No.

This book is full of popular, and dare I say overused tropes. The characters themselves felt a bit flat but maybe that will change in the rest of the series. The world was very simple. The magic system was for a lack of better words "meh." I really with there was more world building and historical background. I will say that this book is popular for a reason, I'm not sure of that reason but it exists. But popular tropes are used because they're good.

Compared to other fantasy novels, this ranks really low. I would not recommend this to other avid fantasy readers. 

HOWEVER! I would recommend this to people who are young adults themselves or need an introduction to fantasy/romantasy. It's easy to digest and probably doesn't have a problematic author (as far as I'm aware). 

The fact that this is a debut novel that was written before the author turned 18 should not go unnoticed. The amount of potential Lauren has is crazy. I'm very excited to see how she grows as an author within this series and any series she writes in the future.