Patrick Moore
Pretty good for a first novel. I had read his Will of The Many earlier this year, and that book was 5 stars, but I can see the growth between this book and that one.
A good start to this trilogy and I expected each book to get better. I am interested in where the story goes. I did see the twist at the end coming a mile away, but it was executed well. Book had a slow patch in the middle, but picked up pace towards the end and had a satisfying conclusion, while still setting up the next phase of the story.
While this is Brando Sando's first published novel (it does show in a couple of spots). Overall, it is very good. Great character study--you get a feel for even the minor characters and their goals and aspirations. A nice mix of religion, politics, and a dash of magic thrown--and the begininngs of the cosmere as well. Took awhile to read, because I did the audio book, so was only doing 20 minutes or so at a time on the way to and from work. The pace of the book was good, and he tied up the story's multiple threads at the end very well.
4 Stars.