I fell in love with Shahrzad (our strong-willed, take-no-shit-from-nobody heroine) and Khalid (our tortured "monster" of a ruler) and their interactions, but I never grew as fond of the parts about Tariq (Shahrzad's childhood sweetheart) or any of the other side characters outside the palace. I dreaded every cut away from the happenings of Shazi and Khalid. Their portion of the story (and the main story, I'd argue) was so alive and full of emotions, while the side stories of other characters were just . . . not. I feel that you could cut a majority of them and still be left with a complete and great, though short, novel. Perhaps the book could have been padded instead with more of Shazi's stories. 
 Oh, and the book ends very abruptly. That also miffed me a bit. It wasn't quite a cliffhanger, but more like the author wrote a really long book originally, then decided to cut it in half at a certain chapter. I would make sure you have access to the sequel if you decide read this. 
 And really, the abrupt ending and those boring side stories are the only real complaints I have about the novel, and the reasons I've got to give this book four stars. While those side stories were by no means terrible, they were far, far less enjoyable to read than the "main" action. However, they're not enough to completely take away from the book itself.