There is certainly a lot taking place already in just the few first 25 pages of this story. The reader finds that Catalina and the true Contessa have changed places, an important figure Ana is in peril at the hands of Atoc and his followers and will be killed if the Contessa does not marry this king Atoc. The people have little food and seem rebellious . A great deal of conflict has been set up, but I feel I am being brought into the middle of all this without much background knowledge. I feel like I have been cheated of knowledge I need to have to make the story work for me.