Took me one year to finish it, considering stops and all, used to read from one short chapter to at least fifty pages in a row. Like this, it felt oddly "cozy", tense and all for sure, but it accompanied me through this year taking its time as well -giving events the chance to be absorbed and reflected upon. That's maybe why I liked it despite the sporadic negative opinions I've collected over the author, agreeing it's not a particularly great prequel, but I've appreciated it anyway. The simmetry of characters, relationships and contexts didn't feel forced although easily spottable to those who are fresh from reading "The Priory of the Orange Tree", given again it's a very numerous roster. Also probably because there was enough "variatio" (narrative variety breaking parallelism) and not too much of a struggle to link events and descendants (if not as secondary details in terms of the current plot). In the end each book's story is a world of its own right despite the "grand scheme" operating behind the scene. And then there's the lingering morale of epics told as a not-so-much-heroic tale of everyday, sadly through not-so-ordinary people as protagonists, but all-to-human just the same. Also, not considering some peaks of tragedy, this one felt a little less crude than the previous. But maybe that's me cautionary preparing for it to escalate in violence just in case. That's it. Recommended (grand/grounded) fantasy.

P.S.: After all I wrote I still can't say if this one could be read even before the first book or not... curious P.P.S.(or should I write [UPDATE/EDIT] as it's not a letter? anyway...): definitely not! As a reader I'd personally be frustrated not understand why some characters behave in a certain way or do certain things, even hundred-pages-long diversions in travels and main narrative actions, decisions whose's motives are are blatantly clear to those who read the Priory but not possibly guessable (nor enough to justify plot consistency) otherwise