Coming from a folklore and fantasy from a culture that I know very little about, this was a very interesting novel, that opened my eyes into a whole new subsection of young adult fantasy. At first, I was not enthused by the plot or the characters, but I did feel as time went by that I further enjoyed the novel. Our main character is very likeable and the villain is quite interesting. I found that the plot premise was based on a female assassin trying to hunt down an evil prince of death to be absolutely fascinating. Additionally, I loved the fact that we start right in the middle of action, as protagonist Zafira takes no time at all to tell us the tragedies that are befalling the nation she is tasked to protect. Feeling a bit like 'Mulan' meets 'Aladdin', this young adult fantasy could entice many young readers and older readers who have enjoyed these types of fantasy novels for years.