It was slow most of the time for me but this is the beginning of a high fantasy series, even with that though I still wish I could have gotten more action scenes.
I'd say I liked the characters but sometimes I felt as if I didn't get enough at times to make them fully real for me. Sadly, I was not the biggest fan of the ending, but the world that Chima created is very interesting to me. I enjoyed the book enough so I'm willing to continue on in the series.