Well it was good to be back reading something that held my attention for a while. Scull has certainly got the talent to write a great story and whilst I think this was a pretty good beginning, I am hoping to see a little more depth in the writing in the next book. 
 So what do I mean by that? Well, the characters were pretty good, with some nice interaction and some nice quirky characteristics, the world building was very good, the story was... a bit different, no real interesting magic system and certainly no explanation on how magic works, it just is. But I think was made it a 3 star and not a 4 star for me, was there are quite a few moments of laziness on the part of the author. Instead of developing a scene, he just allowed it finish it early by making an announcement and having everyone follow along. A case in point, would be when Cole tries to convince all the tough old men on board a ship to join him in uprising, he is a snotty, full of himself 20 something and with one or two sentences he has a up rising in the palm of his hand. 
 So all in all, i enjoyed and I do look forward to picking up book 2.