As a fantasy story it is kind of average. It deals with the main characters "school" time which allows for decently paced worldbuilding. I think the weakest part, and what makes it a bit meh, are the characters. They aren't really bad or boring but just not written in a way that made me care about any of them. But what made the book enjoyable for me was the allusions to scifi elements in the worlds past. So I kind of want to read the rest of the trilogy just so I can feel smart about getting the authors hints on orbital mechanics.