For me, this started a bit slowly, but Sara's experience trying to adapt to a new culture was vividly portrayed, and I found myself forcibly reminded of my own cross-cultural experience, and how lonely and awkward it can feel to begin in a place where everybody but you seems to know how to behave.
I like the way Sara hangs on to herself and her culture even in a foreign land, and I love the parts of the book that slip back into history. The paranormal elements are an added bonus.
I wish there'd been a bit more closure at the end of this novel, but it is a Book 1, so presumably the story will come to a more full resolution at some point or another.