I. Loved. This. Book.

What worked for me:
* A prison planet with ruthless social dynamics and a toxic mine that ensures a horrible death sentence to all humans sentenced to reside there.
* A cunning thief as one of the heroes, who isn't magically smarter, stronger, and just overall better than others. I loved that Aleron made mistakes just as any other human would, rather than being this paragon among prisoners
* Jasak. Oh Jasak. Why must you be attracted to men? You and I could have had a beautiful life together if only you were interested in those of the female persuasion lol I adored Jasak. A man of true honor is a rare thing, but couple that with a good dose of bloodthirstiness and primitive drive and you make me want to purr.
* The love scenes were very well done, and not a single one was gratuitous.
* I also thoroughly enjoyed the subplots and intrigues and politics that staged the background of this story.

What didn't work for me:
* I didn't like the fact that Jasak already had a mate, even though there was absolutely 100% zero chance of them ever being together. This almost made his and Aleron's relationship feel like an adulterous one to me. As bad as it sounds, I think I would've preferred for his previous mate to have been killed before he was sent to Tantoret.

Overall, however, I absolutely adored this story, and as such, say 5/5 Stars, hands down.