This book is def a 4.5 stars. 
 So I borrowed this a long time ago from my brother-in-law along with some other fantasy novels. I decided to read this one first entirely because it was the shortest. 
 This book was surprisingly good for a random fantasy novel I'd never heard of. It's like the Song of Ice and Fire series except set in a Japanese-esque setting. Also, the main character, Mara, is fucking awesome. She's totally Daenerys in this one. I admired her and rooted for her the whole time. Near the end I had to finish because it was gripping and I admired how she relied purely on her wits to get her through situations. 
 This is actually the only reason it's not 5 stars to me. Aside from the pure I-reserve-five-stars-for-only-extreme-favorites attitude I've got now, Mara was too perfect. Which is fine, except it is mentioned that her education about the "Games" was limited compared to her father and brother. But this didn't bother me a whole lot. 
 I also really appreciated how this novel dealt with its characters. There's one character in particular who was not at all likable, but his fate is dealt with in a classy way and the novel actually deals with Mara's manipulations really nicely. Lots of love for this one, I definitely recommend it for people who like A Song of Ice and Fire, but want a good guy to actually do well ;P.