Neela was a strong heroine who I enjoyed rooting for. I thought her determination to win the tournament and be the next Card Holder of the Queen of Hearts was a great character motivation. Her relationship with her parents and the mystery surrounding their deaths was another captivating aspect of the story that kept me reading.I loved Neela's relationship with Amil. Their banter was entertaining and I liked seeing their relationship develop and deepen as the story progressed.I also love books with strong family relationships, whether they are biological families or found families. I really enjoyed getting to read about Neela's bond with her father, and I loved how Brochan became a father figure for her. At first, I felt like Brochan was a little too familiar with Neela, (calling her 'hon' and asking her about her romantic relationships) but by the end of the book, their relationship felt a lot more real since they'd been through a lot together.I was shocked by the ending and it definitely hit me in the feels!I appreciated how there wasn't a lot of info dumping in the book and you gradually learned more about the world as the story went on. I did find myself a bit confused about the difference between Specialists and Naturalists and I'm not sure if that was ever explained. However, for the most part I understood what was going on in the story.The book did remind me of the Hunger Games but there were a lot of parts that made the story unique and set it apart, such as the rogue groups, assassins, unbound/bound, and cardholders. I really liked the idea of using cards to enhance powers, conjure weapons, and summon familiars as that was something that I had never seen in a book before and I think it was explained well in the book through the training scene with Neela and Brochan. I assume the cards will be used more in the next book and I look forward to seeing this aspect expanded upon as it was one of my favorite parts of this book!The description in the story was well-done and Legaspi put just the right amount of description to set the scene. The description also didn't feel out of place or choppy as description can sometimes feel.I felt like Lily and Will could have had more character development as they did not feel fully fleshed out to me as I was reading, but I understand that they are side characters that may get more screen time in later books.There could be more about Neela's relationship with her mom; she was mentioned more at the end but I felt like that could be delved into more, earlier on.I just wanted to note as well that some of the dialogue was punctuated incorrectly throughout the book, which distracted me a bit from the story.Overall, I had a great time reading this book and I'm excited for the next one!