I found the world building and the characters really interesting. I really like the idea behind the book and it was an agreeable read. What annoys me is the fact that Kate has no choice in marrying Marak, she is forced into it and then convince herself that she had chosen so. 
 In addition, a lot of the tradition concerning the marriage and the life of the king's bride where superfluous in the context (as Kate do so willingly) and as those tradition were extremely disagreeable and humiliating for the bride, I don't think that they should be maintained just because it's tradition. For me, it's a very ridiculous idea to do so when there was no true reason behind it. 
 The second half of the book was also unnecessary in my opinion and it bored me a little.