This story had such a powerful start, I loved the first chapter and even got a ways into the story but then it kind of went sideways for me. The writing is good, there were some graphic, gruesome scenes but they held my attention and kept me wondering where the story was going - I'm always rooting for good to win over evil, and there was definitely some evil in this story. This story clearly outlined and gave a really good sense of the fanaticism and small mindedness of some. The characters were well crafted. Unfortunately I found myself about halfway through and felt disconnected from the story and from Xantara, well any of them really. I think the story idea is great but too many characters were constantly being introduced, almost right to the end. I'm a fan of thrillers and meeting lots of characters but not introduced so late. Also I lost touch with Xanatra who's story I thought this would be about as she was who it started with. There wasn't anyone who was present enough throughout to connect with. In some cases I also felt that resolving the issue was too rushed. The story which started out great seemed to become more about sharing a message then about the story. With some changes this would be a great read.