Ok I have to be honest here, I found this book very hard to get into. I know that I would have really enjoyed this book but it just didn't catch my attention the first time through. I found it difficult keeping characters names straight and what from this story relates to real life but with a different name. Now I will be honest I did read this book fairly fast, and I have not read either book 1 or book 2 of this trilogy. So I think that when things settle down here I will get my hands on the first two books and read those and do a re-read of this book. In hopes that starting this story from the beginning I will be less confused. Normally I would do that before a review, but since I got this book as a stand alone I wanted to review it as a stand alone. I liked the writing and the storyline is something that I also like. But this also could be one of those books that I really just like as a book on tape, or iPod. Like I really enjoy the Wheel of Time books but I can not read then I need to listen to them. I do think that if you liked the first two books than you will enjoy this one too. So please give this book a try.