Technically, a 3.5 star (I don't understand why we can't do half stars here).
It starts out as an interesting story that begins with the origins of its villain, and leads up to the creation of its hero. Unfortunately, Miller isn't as good at painting shades of grey as say, George Martin or Scott Bakker, and you never really like Hekat even if you do maybe understand where she's coming from. Mijak is an interesting land though, a little bit of Mayan, Middle Eastern and even Ancient Rome a bit, so that at least keeps you coming back for more. Also unfortunate is the next two books in the series, which get more standard fantasy than the first book lets on.