When the first sentence of a novel involves a character being on trial for treason for murdering a king, it surely starts off with a bang. Color me intrigued. I also really like when novels have prologues/first chapters that start out in the present day, and then the chapters that follow it tell you the story of what's happened to have the characters get to that point. That might just be personal taste. Michael also seems like an interesting character, and I wouldn't be surprised if, as a narrator, he tries to mislead us (the book is called The Kingdom of Liars after all). Overall, I'm interested to see where this one goes.