First off, I just wanted to note that this is a first in a series, NOT a standalone as I had originally thought when I picked it up. The awesome description that I read about this book is more I think, about the series as a whole. You do not get the showdown to the death of three badass female characters as promised in this book. This book basically just sets up the world and introduces the characters while building hype for the next book. So if you're looking for an entire story from beginning to end, no ambiguity, no cliffhangers, maybe don't pick this one up. 
 Here's what liked: 
 I really enjoyed the world building, the magic system and what we saw of the sort of political structure. Certain parts gave me some of the Game of Thrones feels. 
 I liked the development of the three Queens and enjoyed watching them cultivate and even struggle a bit with their gifts. All three felt like real, whole characters with strengths and flaws. Each showed considerable growth from beginning to end that I enjoyed watching. I found that I shifted allegiances a few times throughout as I tried to pick the one I was going to route for but by the end I was attached to all three. Here's hoping these three strong, badass female characters can pull something off by the end and usurp the system that requires choosing in the first place. 
 The ending. I liked it. After the last line I kind of had a flashback moment picturing all these different scenes that I'd missed initially, totally make sense now. 
 Here's what I didn't like: 
 I found the pacing to be extremely slow! I can imagine a lot of people are not going to be able to get past the first three quarters of the book as it can be pretty tedious to read at times, just waiting for something, anything to happen. 
 Too many underdeveloped supporting characters just made the book more work to read than it needed to be and took away from the enjoyment for me. I found there to be just a pile of other names weaved throughout the story without any really memorable qualities or that added any value to the story. Maybe they will have more importance in coming books, but honestly, I'd rather just put more focus on the Queens. 
 I'm just going to throw this in there. Not a fan of the love triangle. Not a fan of love triangles and unnecessary romantic subplots in general. Can we just move past tossing one in a book just for the sake of there being one? 
 Overall: 
 All that said, as a person who generally doesn't read sequels, I'm actually pretty excited to see how this all plays out in the next book. For that, it gets 4 stars instead of the 3 I was originally going to give it. Now that the series has had it's "setup" I'm hoping the action advertised is on its way.