Let me tell you a secret. I haven't actually finished this book. I rated it though, whoops. 
 So I've decided to write a short review anyway of what I've read, which is about three quarters of it. I was pretty close to finishing, but I put it down. Don't ask me why. And I was getting to the climax too. I'll get back to it someday though. I hope. 
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 I think that in writing this review, I'm trying to motivate myself to finish the book, because stuff does happen (and I'd know because I flipped kind of near to the ending and spoiled it for myself) and the sequel is out and it has a beautiful cover and I want to read it. So I hope this works. 
 With this novel, I was quite disappointed. The cover was nice, the synopsis definitely drew me in and made me want to read it, it was something I would read and what I had heard about it was great; so the overall book was looking pretty good. But alas it was not to be. Maybe if I hadn't had as high expectations, it would have turned out better. Saying this however, there were some good elements to this novel, just not enough to compensate for what I didn't like as much. 
 Likes: 
 I liked Meira. Well, I liked her more later on in the novel. She's quite strong and brave and I appreciate that in a female protagonist. 
 Theron. I just liked him as well. He was supportive and great to Meira and I loved their relationship. They seemed to fit really well together. 
 The setting and world-building was okay, and I liked the originality of the concept of the locket pieces thingy together has magic etc. 
 The plot was decent though I had a few issues with it. 
 That's all I can really remember for now. 
 Dislikes: 
 The pacing. This book dragged. Like really dragged. On and on. I read the first chapter and was immediately turned off. This doesn't usually happen to me; books only seem to get boring in the middle. But I persevered and read the second chapter. And the first quarter or third of this book, nothing happens. This part is basically an introduction to the characters, their world and their story. And while it was necessary, there were better ways of writing it. So besides all that, Meira just finds the first half of the locket (I forgot what it's called) and that's the end of that part. 
 So the last two-thirds was much better. Things started happening when they all decided to meet up at the Kingdom of Cordell (I think? it's been months since I read this guys) and the pace sped up a little especially with the introduction of Theron. 
 The reason I believe that I DNFed was because I got to the bit where Meira is sent to the Winter prison, and I realised there was 50 pages of that and nothing happens and I was struggling with reading it and it just didn't seem worth all that trouble reading those pages to get to the rest of the story at that time. So not just at the beginning but at other parts, did I find this book immensely boring, unbelievably so as it is fantasy and one of my favourite book genres. 
 I found that I split the book into two parts, the beginning and the rest. It just felt too disconnected, whether that was because of a change in setting or something else I'm not really sure. And also, I felt that it was a bit jarring at times, because the book takes place in a lot of different locations. 
 Another thing I didn't like about this book was Mather, and his relationship with Meira. I'm not sure if Meira, Mather and Theron are meant to be in some kind of love triangle because sometimes it felt like they did but other times not. So I wasn't sure of any of it really. I just felt that Meira and Theron were great and the romance or whatever it was between Meira and Mather was entirely unnecessary and was a turn-off point for me. 
 Which brings me to my other point; I didn't like Mather. And though he is a main character, he was a bit of a hit and miss with me. I felt some of his decisions were confusing and underhanded and (view spoiler)[thank God he isn't actually king (hide spoiler)]. As well, I couldn't really connect with him. 
 The other characters were fine but not stand-out. Maybe this'll change in the next book. 
 And one last thing, the plot twist and the build-up before it. This was a very good effort to keep the reader always guessing, but I think it just went too long or something and in the end, I saw it. Which is kind of satisfying but also disappointing and maybe a bit too predictable, thought the set-up of it wasn't. 
 Overall, after all the bad things I said about this, I still did enjoy this, though it had too many issues that I couldn't get over. I'm not exactly sure how to rate this, maybe between a 3.25 or 3.5. Tossing up between the two, but can't decide. I may change my rating though, if say, it has a stellar ending or something. 
 To sum up: 
 Good things - Meira and Theron, the concept 
 Bad things - pacing, the other characters, myriad changes in setting, overall poor execution of an idea of a story that had great potential 
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 So that's it and if I do finish this book, I'll write the rest of the review of what I read, and revise it and the rating as well if how I felt about it changed.