Sometimes it was difficult to follow who was who what with name changes and the convoluted family trees weren't helping (as it didn't seem to make much difference in terms of loyalty anyway). I was either reading too fast at some points or failed to pick up on the implied events/foreshadowing, but I felt there was a bit of Deus ex here and there. It was nicely balanced by an unexpected twist now and then. However, the world was fascinating, the characters believable and I look forward to the next one. There is a next one, right?