My first 5 star read of 2024! This book is incredible. I was absolutely hooked in the first chapter. Nikki's writing has the hallmarks of a very experienced storyteller (Which I found out she clearly is after I finished this and discovered her back catalogue).Kaisel as the MMC is believeable and loveable. I am not a lover of the whole "trope" designation of books but I will say, lovers of Slow Burn, Found Family will love this book. The characters are rich and 3 dimensional, the world is vivd and extremely well formed. There is a light touch of spice. If you have a mature/advanced teen reader or NA reader, this could be a good book for them (Caveat - this is the first book in a series, I cannot speak for how it will develop).Series fans will adore how Nikki has set this foundation book up for the rest of the series. There is some Romance for the "Romantasy" readers but this is definitely Fantasy forward. Fans of Robin Hobb, Trudi Canavan and Brent Weeks will love this book. As soon as I submit this, I am hitting buy now on the book and looking forward to being able to get my hands on the second.