Friday 56 and Book Beginning: Blood's Pride (Shattered Kingdoms #1) by Evie Manieri || Friday 50/50: Best/Worst Read of February

Please join us over at RoseCityReader every Friday to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author’s name.

This is a weekly meme hosted by Freda's Voice
The rules:

1. Grab a book, any book.

2. Turn to page 56, or 56% on your eReader.

3. Find any sentence (or a few, just don't spoil it) that grabs you.

4. Post it.

5. Add the URL to your post in the link on Freda's most recent Friday 56 post.

Synopsis:

   Rising from their sea-torn ships like vengeful, pale phantoms, the Norlanders laid waste to the Shadar under cover of darkness. They forced the once-peaceful fisher folk into slavery and forged an alliance with their former trading partners, the desert-dwelling Nomas tribe, cutting off any hope of salvation.
   Now, two decades after the invasion, a rebellion gathers strength in the dark corridors of the city. A small faction of Shadari have hired the Mongrel, an infamous mercenary, to aid their fledgling uprising—but with her own shadowy ties to the region, she is a frighteningly volatile ally. Has she really come to lead a revolution, or for a more sinister purpose all her own?
   Set in a fictional quasi-Medieval Mediterranean region with a strong cast of male and female characters, the series "presents a striking world with civilizations similar to those of the Vikings and the nomadic cultures of the Middle East, and with the Mediterranean sensibilities of the ancient Greeks. Her characters are passionate and memorable, lending a personal touch to a complex tale of clashing cultures and philosophies.

Book Beginning:
Prologue
 Excerpt from the manuscript, The History of the Shadar, by Daryan(Damion, ninth of that name.)

You may believe this work you now hold in your hands to be an abomination.

Page 56:
Frea turned to her, her silver-green eyes glittering in the darkness behind the visor. < I think you just answered your own question. >  she said.


   (Note: I just picked this up, and haven't gotten to the explanation for it, but the book has the '<' and '>' at the ends of that. Not a typo.)

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50/50 Friday is a new weekly link-up hosted by Carrie @ The Butterfly Reader and Laura @ Blue Eye Books.  Every week they have a new topic featuring two sides of the same coin - you share a book that suits each category and link up on the hosts' blogs.

Book covers are linked to my review.

Best

I waited too long to pick this up. I've had it since it came out.

Worst

If I were to describe this book in one word it would be 'insufferable".