Absolutely excellent coming of age novel. I devoured it quickly. The beginning was tough to read for me. The protagonist is completely unlikable. He was disgustingly shallow, arrogant, rude, heartless, and ignorant. This novel started out in a villiage/city full of heartless people. I was thinking while reading the first few chapters, "These people are horrible. As expected of Shan. But should I read this? If everyone in the novel is like this...I won't like it." But I stuck it through and didn't regret it. As the protagonist went through his journey and difficult trials, he grew and lost that ignorancy and rude tongue. I fell in love with the character Tel Hesani. When he died, I cried so much along with Jebel. It was mortifying. He lost his one true friend. The ending was wrapped up beautifully and this book didn't bore me for a single second. Recommended.