3.5 stars. I waivered back and forth at to whether this should get 3 or 4 stars and finally just decided 3.5 stars. This book is clearly part of a planned series (which it is,,, part of a trilogy) and by this, I mean that it could not stand alone - it needs to be read as part of the series. Not much really happened in this 400+ page book, but it was very well written. It's too bad it could not stand alone, hence the reason I could not give it 4 stars. I will go on to the second in the trilogy since this first book left on a "cliffhanger" of sorts.