Not gonna lie, these first few chapters were tough to get into. HOWEVER, as the book carried on and I became more familiar with this new world, I began to actually enjoy the story A LOT! How Saoiarse, Carrik, Jeune ect. became this strong group to "fight the bad guys". But simply the plot itself, with all its twists, magical elements, and characters, was exciting. But what did I particularly like about the book? - The short chapters made me snatch this book away in no time. - The little explanations of what's going on and who is fighting against whom that Gabi Burton sprinkled in through the dialogues (my kind of bad memory would have NEVER been able to pick up on everything). - it was "only" a duology, so the books didn't feel like too much of a commitment, which is usually unheard of with fantasy books. - diverse genders and sexualities wasn't an issue in Keidre and Alkara at all - The focus was on the fantasy and less on the romance aspect (even though I would have loved to "feel" a bit more of love between Saoirse and Hayes. Instead, their relationship felt almost platonic from time to time.) Talking about Saoirse, initially I did not like her due to her rigidy with little to no space left for some fun. What really intrigued me about her in the first book, though, was her inner conflict and the prince's obsession with her. How, on one hand, she did kill all these people, while at the same time pretending to solve their murder. Even more so, as their relationships with Hayes, Jeune... grew fonder. Eventually she loosened up and became more likeable as the book carried on, which made me like her more (as long as we turn out the fact that she's literally seventeen and getting cozy with gross elder men to kill them).