Although this book was slow to start, I did eventually find it to be a compelling read. I think I mainly read it because all of the secondary characters were delightful. I don't know that I ever really connected with Yelena. I did put a hold on the rest of the series at the library and depending on how they turn out, I would be willing to read other books by this author. 
 I really like Valek, I thought he was good and well-rounded. However, the relationship between Valek and Yelena really didn't seem to be explored very well, and (view spoiler)[ even at the end of the book, she didn't seem to understand him very well. 
 I really liked the characters of Ari and Janco, I thought they were excellent comic relief and generally fun to see. I look forward to hopefully seeing more of Irys in the next book, and I'm sort of interested in the character of May. 
 I thought the Commander's dual identity was interesting, but (hide spoiler)] along with so many other things in this book, I was hoping to see this explored further. Perhaps this is just a case of all of the books being written together, but this first book left a large amount of loose ends, and half-dangled plot lines which left me feeling a bit cheated.