This didn’t live up to the hype, unfortunately. The beginning is slow and drawn out. The middle/battle scene is amazing. The end? Just a fizzle of what could have been. What makes it worse is that the novel is set in a now defunct series (the Theonite series). Yes, it’s a stand alone of sorts, but you can’t get any more if you wanted to because the author has not only stopped writing the series, but pulled all but this book from the shelves. And it’s a shame, because the world is… weird (in a good way). Planes, guns, bombs, cars, cell phones, the internet, etc all exist in this world, yet the village is basically 1500s Fuedal Japan but with magic. It’s quite a juxtaposition of technology, magic, and deep rooted culture. But again, there is nothing more to read now, which is a shame. Characters vary between deeply emotional and easy to connect with, to stereotypical literary tropes that are just plain boring. All that said, it’s very well written with an incredible battle scene, but it really fell short of the massive hype this book has.