hmmm where to begin....it gave absolutely NOTHING! character development- nothing, world building- nothing, high stakes- nothing, emotional damage- nothing and the ending- nothing. Part 1 had potential and is the only part i really enjoyed, mainly for the history we were getting about the world and what i thought was going to set us up for part 2. it did not. Part 2 and 3 have very different tones and is extremely fast paced. I feel like we are jumping from one thing to another with no time to settle into where we are and make connections to the characters. Speaking of characters, Rin as a main character was lacking. I still don't know much about her other than she is difficult and carries the Phoenix god with her. Her moral values are not portrayed enough throughout this, I just don't know who she is and what she stands for. She has best friends and claims to care about them but we didn't get enough time with them to truly believe her. finally everything that happened in part 3 that should've been jaw dropping was not. The plot twists were not twisty! it was "ok, that happened, next please." Because of what happened at the end, i feel like there would be no high stakes for the other books in this series, it would be unbelievable to me.