On the whole, I enjoyed this book. I liked the characters and the worldbuilding. It’s very different from The Murderbot Diaries (the Wells series I’m more familiar with), but there are hints of it in the writing style, especially the fight scenes (which are one of Wells’ specialties). Wells is very good at writing murderous protagonists that you nonetheless want to root for. The magic was a little “softer” than I’d ideally have wanted – I counted at least four different magic systems, only one of which I felt I really understood – but I’ve been spoiled by Sanderson lately. The soft system didn’t get in the way of an enjoyable story. One thing that was a little weird to me was how the main questions of the two parallel storylines were pretty much unchanging through the whole of the fairly long novel. (Present: who betrayed us and where is Tehren? / Past: how do we get revenge and get out of the hostage court?) You would think in a 400+ page book, the stakes would change a little, but really it’s the same question throughout, just with different obstacles thrown in the characters’ paths. I feel like Wells’ style is more suited to novellas than novels, but that might just be personal preference. Still, a fun book and I look forward to the sequel, whenever it comes out.