My immediate impression of this book was how much I loved the historical background story that was given right away at the beginning! Slowly picking up pieces of information about a fictional world's lore is usually extremely aggravating to me because I want to know the background info NOW instead of piece by piece. This was a refreshing way to start a fantasy novel! After the brief history lesson, we join Shadow in the forest, and while her journey through the woods starts off slow and tedious, everything gets intense and crazy at her journey's end, and I'm really excited to see what comes next!