If you're a fan of epic/high fantasy (think Robert Jordan and his Wheel of Time series), you'll enjoy these books.
Lots of political intrigue and plenty of battle scenes.
I would have rated this five stars, except 1) All the names get really confusing at the beginning. It took me a good third of the book to get used to all the names and remember who was who. 2) SOOO much death. No character is safe!
I dislike getting to learn/like/love a character only to have them die.
Still, this is a great read. Definitely looking forward to the rest of the series.