A wonderful story about two persons born in the same moment destined to be "soul twins" and finding their destiny amidst a dire prophecy coming to pass. While I generally do not like a lot of prophetic fore-shadowing JC has never disappointed in her ability to weave this seamlessly into the story. However, this book is dominated so much by prophecy that even with her ability to make it palatable I was a little over it by the end.

The story Khai and Zariya is wonderfully told and I enjoyed every second of it.

Khai raised by desert monks to be a bodyguard to the princess born in the same moment in the shadow of the moon only gets to meet her charge when they are both 16 years old. While Khai is an accomplished fighter by that time the princess has been raised solely in the palace's women's quarters.

As usual JC creates an evocative interesting world, with a fascinating supporting cast.

My main critique is that this book starts out reading like the beginning of a trilogy and then it hurries toward an ending way to quickly from the three quarter mark onward. I wanted to see more of the world, get to know the characters better...