2.5 stars.

What I liked
I liked the revolution element in this book. The author really connects the horrible things that happen today (fascism, draught etc.) with the story she is telling. I also liked the ending because it is not a happy ending. That is usually what happens in real life too. And lastly, I liked seeing the world Johansen build again.

What I did not like
This is a prequel to the queen of the Tearling series but there were too many inconsistencies. Like the Mace supposedly being 15 years old when recruited and in this prequel more in his twenties. Also there were a lot of things that were too big to not let it re-appear in the trilogy. Like in this book it is a lot about the Blue horizon movement. In the trilogy, it is only seen as something of the very long past. Not something that happened 20 years ago. Some key figures that were a member of the movement but that did not come to light in the trilogy at all. So I feel like there is a big disconnect between the prequel and the trilogy. I also felt like putting this story down a lot of times, it just didn't grip me. The story contained also a lot of VERY vile things. While I am not one to shy away from such things (I have to stomach a lot as a criminal law student) it felt abundant. And lastly, if you read the trilogy you already know that all of this world will be 'wiped out'. So why would it matter what they do? The characters and world will not exist this way in about twenty years.
So yeah I did have some trouble with this book.