I read this book all the way through, although I thought the characters were generally weak (and there are a lot of them!) but after 488 pages I was still left hanging in terms of the story. I would have to read the next one in the series to find out if the good guys win the war, the lovers find each other, what happens when the baby is born, etc. So, for me, this is not a successful book and the writing will not bring me back to more of the series. The premise is interesting (read the description above) but to me all writing, including genre writing, has to have well-developed characters. This does not. I think the novel may be enjoyed more by teenage boys (I don't mean to be offensive, but just a very broad generalization - lots of action, women mostly as objects...) For me....not so much.