I very much enjoyed this book. The magical abilities are unique and interesting, but they aren't overwhelmingly powerful, which I actually prefer. The book itself is well-written, and our protagonist, Fitz, is unlike most characters I've read and yet still realistic and likable. It isn't dark fantasy by any means, but it is very much grey. A lot of it was just sad. However, the end was very satisfying to me. It wasn't a happy ending, but it wasn't a sad or terrible one either. It was satisfying. 
 There were only two things that kept me from flat-out loving this book and giving it 5 stars, and they are both purely personal preferences. One is that it felt strange in a fantasy novel to mostly stay in one place. Buckkeep was the setting for the vast majority of the book. The story starts elsewhere and ends elsewhere, but except for the occasional scene, it's mostly all in that one city. It made sense as to why that is since this is covering Fitz's childhood, but it made me feel a bit restless and felt like not much was happening. The second was that all of the supporting cast were so...distant. Because Fitz couldn't (and shouldn't have in most cases) trust anyone fully, he never got really close to anyone, which meant that I never felt attached to any of them either. The only true connections Fitz seemed to have were (view spoiler)[ his dogs, and both of those situations ended with me crying onto my kindle. Even Burrich who essentially raises Fitz is kept at a distance because of his feelings about the Wit. Chade seemed to be the closest Fitz got to anyone, and even that relationship was stunted because he had to hide things. And even so, Chade seemed to be absent when he was most needed. (hide spoiler)] I fully believe that this was intentional by the author and is part of what makes Fitz who he is and may change in future books, but it did make it feel like something was lacking. 
 Overall, this is a wonderful story, and I will immediately go read the second book now!