I took a chance on reading this even though I haven’t read the first book in the series and while some of the back story would have been helpful I still found this to be an easy to follow tale. The pacing got a bit off for me in the middle but picked up for a great ending. I found the world building to be strong. My only real complaint was a lack of connection with the male MC but I think that was more my fault for not reading the first book. Will likely pick up the rest of the series soon.