It was a strong beginning of the series.

The world building is pretty cool yet thin. It takes place in the desert, which is cool to me, and there's some kind of military academy that produces soldiers who then have to serve for the Empire. But in the middle of the Empire, there are "rebels" who wants the tyranny to ends and also there's a betrayal inbetween the academy, and so on.

The plot is enganging. It such a page-turner book and I couldn't put it down. It's a fast-paced story so it takes me a short of time to finished it. 

The characters. I love the characters so much, especially the main characters.
- Laia. She's my new favorite fmc. She's not a born one, not a magically given skills, but her characters development is lovely. She's scared. She act cowardly at times. She's real. I think I would do the same as her if I'm in her position.
- Elias. I never imagined I would met this kind of mmc. I love how he has sense of justice despite of everything happen to him and everyone around him acts the opposite of him, he still on his determination and whenever he falls he still can find a way to survive. And I love his background story. It's awful but that's what makes him a human.
- The other characters are hugely helpful to made me catch the vibes and emotionally attached with the story.

I highly recommend this book for you who love high fantasy book but with a simple world building!!