I liked the setting, the world buildung and (at least to some extent) the magic system. Otherwise, the story fell flat for me. I couldn't get close to any of the characters and the plot felt quite dull, especially in the first half of the novel. The first two chapters were really confusing to me, so I was already off to a bad start. I also didn't like the many jumps in time. One time about four or five years had past and later on two or three, I think. I would've liked it better if the children had been older when they came to the palace. I also wasn't a fan of the mother daughter dynamics. I mean, they were supposed to be weird and uncomfortable but it just wasn't believable to me.
For me "Raybearer" just wasn't the revelation to YA fantasy that other readers have found it to be. All the major plot twists were expactable and the setting (the magic system aside) wasn't groundbreaking imo.
Needless to say I won't be reading the next book of the duology.