This book was very intense at times I felt the desperation our hero faces especially during his childhood I always kept hoping that he would be saved mainly by his sister who at the time thought would end up with him since he was really related to him, but unfortunately he endures everything I was very depressed at times. It's very interesting the author took that direction since in real life we often don't have somebody to save us. I loved that he was finally able to really be happy. Also, it was great how we saw everything from the early days to modern world it was very different from other novels I have read. I actually skipped the whole series and started with this book due to the 5 star reviews, I will consider reading the others now.