Strong start to a new fantasy series

This start of a new YA fantasy series has a lot to appeal to that audience -- vivid world-setting, magic, political intrigue, and romance. The writing style was very clear and easy to completely fall in to the story and forget that time is passing. Shadow is a strong female character who we get to see develop and kick butt all over the place. The history of the countries in this world is really interesting and laid out clearly (as opposed to some other more confusing fantasy worlds). And of course the romance buildup was tantalizing! That can't be the end for those two!

I felt like the big "reveal" was a little lacking in "wow" power, and I was left wondering where the plot could possible go from there. But I plan to read the next books in the series to find out!