This is 4.5 stars rounded down until I see if it has the re-readability. Very epic, fabulous character and world building. Maybe a touch on the long side, but necessary build-up. I'm glad I waited until Crescendo was close to release. 
 The only think that seemed a touch off to me is that once Ayden made the decision to bed Freyrik, he stopped pushing, which seemed against his alpha nature to me. I expected it to be more of a "fine, I'll bed him, but that doesn't mean I'm going easy on him", but it felt more like he softened a lot suddenly. I guess it was more "epiphany" than I expected. But if that's the worst I can say, then it was really good. =)