It took me longer than I thought to read this. I think I did overhype it a little, I was expecting it to be absolutely amazing and gripping, and while it was mostly, there were some parts that just dragged. Partly because of my reading slump and partly because of the slower parts, I didn't really find myself extremely excited to pick the book up again once I'd put it down. 
 C.S. Pacat has a very unique writing style, and uses a lot of 'big words'. She often has a conversational feel to her writing, especially in the beginning of the book I found a few choice phrases being repeated, almost as though we were actually inside Damen's mind listening to him decipher dialogue (even though the book was in third person.) I found a few bits and pieces a little hard to follow (this is an adult book, after all, and I'm used to YA), but did manage to get the gist of the whole book. The complicated character names were a little confusing at times, but the small character list at the beginning of the definitely helped. 
 I feel like the scenes with a lot of action or drama were absolutely amazing. They made my heart pound, they were amazingly written, and definitely built up enough tension to keep me reading. However, the parts that were more 'filler writing', could be quite dull at times. 
 I did enjoy the relationship between Damen and Laurent, it was definitely interesting and unique, and I'm excited to see how that progresses. I liked seeing more of Laurent's vulnerable side as the book went on, considering the first two thirds of the book didn't give him much dimension. As Damen grew to learn more about the Prince he serves, his opinion about him changes and alters, and he finds himself facing conflicting opinions about Laurent. I definitely found this interesting, to see the war Damen was battling in his mind about his feelings for the Prince. 
 I'm excited to dive into the next book tomorrow, as I think it will be filled with more drama, more Damen/Laurent, and a whole lot more angst. 
 I did enjoy this book a lot, but the slow burning chapters were what brought the rating down for me, unfortunately. I still have extremely high hopes for the series, and a large respect for Pacat for including such dark, controversial and triggering topics in her novel. They were handled brilliantly and I'm intrigued to see how she continues to display these topics in the next two books. 
 (That was my longest review ever, wow. I had a lot to say.)