To be honest, I am not really sure how to review this book, as this is part of a series. It is laying down the foundation for more stories to come, introducing a lot of characters, promising conflicts, and interaction as their paths start to cross.
Although there are a plethora of characters, in the beginning, the book spends more time on General Voxinus, an honorable veteran warrior whose main goal is to serve the realm with tons of family devotion. It helps to set the base and gives readers some familiarity. As the story progresses, what seems to be straightforward tale branches into various plots. Readers are introduced to many more characters, places, and cultures, with one main recurring antagonist that makes me do a double take on the genre.
Warning: Some readers could find offensive materials. It is alright with me, although, at times, it feels excessive. Thankfully, they don't linger.
To me, there are many significant distractions, as one of the characters in the book put it—informational lecture— that is heavy, especially because the book keeps on introducing new characters and their lengthy backstories. To make it more difficult to keep track, the new characters and settings also come with tons of nicknames. Throwing in unusual fantasy names, and some of them similar enough to the others, it's not really an easy task for readers to follow.
But that is one of the challenges of the first book. Although there are many things to remember, this one has at least enough amount of connections with the base characters. For me, the reading experience is rough, as explained above, and there are times when it feels heavy on certain agendas. I do not doubt that there are a lot of creativities in the story, and the world is rich with a good combination of imagination and reality. With significant polishing, this has the potential to become a grand tale.
