I did read it as a standalone, there are some characters from the other books but it is a story on his own. The book was not bad, it was well written and the story was good but the lead female character did not have a strong personality too submissive, it didn' t do for me, I would have liked a little bit more action on her side. The male character zack is a dic* dosen't really develope in the story apart from a fairytale change at the end. It was ok 2.9 stars