Magical, beautiful imagery, interesting characters. I thought this was well-written and really enjoyed the first half of the book. 
 I loved the descriptions, characters, plot, etc. - it held me fascinated through the first half of the book. But for some reason, halfway through, it lost some of its magical appeal for me. I'm not sure why, but I just became a little bored with it. Despite that, it is still a wonderful book. 
 Even though I didn't enjoy the second half as much as the first half, I still felt like this book deserved a 4 star rating. (For myself and my own enjoyment reading the book, I give it 3-1/2 stars)