O my wow... I have like a hundred boners for this book! So glad I bought into all the hype and gave it a read. I knew right from the beginning (view spoiler)[ when Giza gets her sewing hand shattered by the silver guard! So heartbreaking! (hide spoiler)] that it was going to be a really exciting story with lots of twists and turns along the way. 
 My only real criticism would be that I felt like it was a little too long. Like some sections could have easily been cut for time and it wouldn't have negatively effected the story. So much happens in this first novel that it almost feels like two or three separate books could have been created from it. None of this is a bad thing. Just when there's so much story to remember before you get to the next installment, I find it hard to remember all the nuances and small things from a previous installment. And once I read Glass Sword and then have to wait like a year for the next installment... I fear not retaining all the story. 
 Mare was just the kind of heroine I like. She was funny, spunky, and courageous. However, for a heroine who really didn't need saving, she certainly got rescued a lot. Seriously, like all the time. Someone is always having to save her from something. The way it was written made it feel like she didn't actually need the saving but everyone just wanted to save her anyway. I would like for her to take charge a bit more in the future. 
 Cal really gets a raw deal in this one. He's very torn between what he was raised to believe and what he may actually be capable of. (view spoiler)[ Yes, The Scarlet Guard is a terrorist group depending on which side of the divide you're on. Cal has been raised to protect the kingdom he will inherit and to keep the peace. However, on a personal note, he doesn't really look down upon Reds. He feels like the current state of affairs allows the Reds as much equality as they can get (which really isn't any at all) without disrupting the peace and causing an all out civil war. He wants peace at the expense of liberty, even though he can see the injustice of doing just that. (hide spoiler)] He's really a quite complex character and I look forward to seeing more of him. 
 Maven. I can't even. I loved Maven for the first 80% of the story then that all went to shit in a heartbeat. (view spoiler)[ I wonder if Elara is really behind everything. Perhaps she brainwashed him? I don't know... maybe that's just wishful thinking. (hide spoiler)] Maven certainly went from knight in shining armor to megalomaniac psychopath in a second. I just don't know about him. Could he have been playing his game all along and somewhere along the way actually had some real feelings in there? But, even if he had those real feelings, they weren't enough to stop the evil parade he was the grand marshal of. 
 The Scarlet Guard. Farley and Walsh and Kilorn. (view spoiler)[I'm really not shipping Kilorn and Mare at all. They seem to love each other like best friends. Nothing romantic. I think it should stay that way. (hide spoiler)] All were good in their own ways. I wish I got the chance to know them more than superficially in this. Perhaps that will happen in Glass Sword.