Those needing a stand alone fantasy (maybe to wait in between series?) this one is pretty good to pick up.

Lore and worldbuilding is basic and easy to follow. There's no need for heavy background information and it's straight to the point. Magic is for the select few: Check. We have a rigid society of the haves and have nots: Check. We also have a power hungry individual that wants it all : Check. Pirates: Yes! Things going AWOL: Oh yes!

The plot is very good and moves fast switching from some points of view. I'd have to say I like Daria and Demos the most as their story arcs are more exciting and have more substance to it. Blaine and Phela, meh. You pretty much met these kinds of characters in most fantasy novels so although they're central and huge to the story, there's much more interesting characters to read about.

The ending dragged though. It almost felt like the authors wanted to cram every little fantasy characteristic into one book. It may seem a bit much. But with the last 50 pages, you keep getting the "But wait there's more!" to the plot. It was a little much for me.

Overall I would say it's a good one book fantasy to dive into, and quite the journey. ( )

It may not always be fair, but I get a taste pretty quickly for when I am going to dislike a book. In the first few pages, you get acquainted with the writing style and with the characters and the world enough to get a sense of what they are, even if you don't have all the details yet. With Blood of the Four, I had been apprehensive about this book since I received it. My luck with PageHabit books has been fairly poor, and I come at them in a guarded manner. I was apprehensive when I received this one, but I wanted to push past my bias and at least *try* it.

Here's what I found in the first ten pages of Blood of the Four: a princess sneaking through secret passages in the castle to watch her mother snort drugs off another man's stomach and observe their coupling. ... Yeah, no, I'm good thanks. These scenes are a lot of the reason why I prefer YA Fantasy - I just don't need the sex in order to enjoy the book. And already I'm getting a sense for the type of character our princess is and the world she's in and I could tell it wasn't for me.

And that's it. I'm not saying it's a bad book and I am sure many out there would enjoy it. But it's not the story I'm looking for in this period of my life, and all the power to people who are seeking a self-contained epic fantasy in one volume. The writing style even seems really well-balanced, but between the intro and the summary, I'm not interested in following this story.