Decent start to a series. I had some problems. There were some striking similarities to Dune, mostly in the beginning. Though I will say the book felt like it was finding its voice later on. Some of the early sections felt unnecessary in the long run, but I did not hate them. Lastly, I’m not a fan of the form of self spoiling narration and would of preferred Hadrian’s insights of the future to be more vague.

I did like the prose, they were on the verge of being purple, but did not go to far. My favorite thing about the book was the world building. I enjoyed it quite a bit and based on the ending, I expect it to grow a lot in scale. While I’m not a fan of people saying this about first books, this felt like a setup for the rest of the series. I liked this book enough that I want to see where it goes.