This one is really difficult for me to rate so I'm settling on a 3. For a lot of the book I struggled to get into it, especially the chapters with just Axl and Beatrice (if I have to read the word "princess" again I will snap). Then in the final chapters of part 3 I had a big "oh!" moment and was suddenly HOOKED, the stars aligned, the title made perfect sense, I understood the deeper meaning, I enjoyed the moral quandary presented, yada yada. If the book had ended there it probably would have been a 4 star for me. But it didn't end there, and I hated the ending, and therein lies the difficulty. So, I'm averaging out to roughly 3 stars. Might recommend, wouldn't reread.