This book is an unusual mix of fantasy and urban fantasy. The setting could be straight out of any high fantasy novel, but the feisty lead character and the plot would slot nicely into pretty much any UF book on the shelves. 
 It may just have been the mood I was in but, while I liked the book at the start, once I put it down I felt reluctant to pick it up again and had to force myself to finish. It's really not a bad book, but it just wasn't holding my attention the way it should. I never really warmed to any of the characters and I particularly disliked the bad guy. It's a trope of high fantasy to have the evil baddie who wants power for no other reason than to have it, and he tortures and murders indiscriminately to get it. I used to simply accept this type of character, because we need someone for the good guys to fight against, right? Nah. It doesn't work for me any more. I need to understand the bad guy's reasons and I want shades of grey in my characters. The baddie in this book doesn't have them and the book loses depth because of that. 
 It's far from being one of the worst books I've ever read, but it could have been much better and I don't feel interested enough to continue with the series.