3.5/5

There was a lot of really great ideas but there was a severe problem with pacing in this book. The first half was really slow and drawn out court intrigue and then the second half felt like we were being thrown around half a dozen locations because the plot needed to actually start progressing. There were too many coincidences that were not fleshed out well enough and were clearly added to push the plot forward.
It definitely felt like the book was intended to be longer but sections were cut and stitched together loosely, leading to a disjoint plot. It would have worked far better as a duology or even a trilogy.
Overall the idea was interesting but the execution was not up to what I was hoping for based on how well received the book was, which was very disappointing.