The reason I gave this book a four was for its enjoyability. I can with complete honesty say there was no point during the story that I felt bored. About a third through it, the tone of the book turned slightly darker, and that remained the tone throughout the rest of the book. It follows the journey of Ash, an elemental with sand powers who competes in a competition for the honor to become the Emperor's bodyguard. Because of the tone of the book and the depth of the characters, I would definitely say it was written for the YA age group. The criticism I can give is that I would have liked to see better world-building. Other than that I think the book is an enjoyable read. I posted the review on amazon uk and I will try to also add it to goodreads.