2.75 rounded up because of the prologue honestly.

This only shows that I shouldn't attempt to predict 5 star books anymore...I'm extremely disappointed. Although the initial concept had me interested and the prologue held that attention for a minute, I can't say that I particularly enjoyed this.

The book was easily enough to follow, the writing was okay and pretty standard but the characters didn't make it; at first, Xiala was my favorite but then she lost momentum and her arc didn't seem as enticing as before. As for the rest of the characters every single one of them felt bland to me and without a strong and well-formed purposes.
Sure enough, the motives are kind of explained, but still they feel murky and incomplete, without driving force.

As for the plot I can only say that I did see coming A LOT and nothing felt high stakes, indeed the story feels like a prequel to me and honestly, I just wasn't engaged or sufficiently interested to say that I will continue with the rest of the series.