This is a hard one to rate....and a harder one to describe. The Grace of Kings is a fabulously written fantasy textbook. I truly don't know how else to describe it. You are told an extremely thorough family history for the world's current political family. You are kept at arms length from the story the entire time but there are core characters you really see develop as the story progresses. 

I can't say a lot of people will enjoy this. I'm frankly not sure I did. It's so well written, but it's also so high level you just don't connect well with the story. I was simultaneously entertained and sort of bored that the story was told from such a 10,000x foot overview at times. 

I'm intrigued to see where book 2 takes me, as I've heard the narrative voice shifts.