Unfortunately, I have to make a review by this book alone (without references to the rest of the series as I haven't read them all yet) and my mind is: confused.
This definitely not a book that you should read before you read the rest of the series, but even if you do, I think it will be difficult to understand it because, in my opinion, there are too many plots and sub plots in it and honestly it makes my head spin. It keep changing from one plot to another that by the end of reading, I just skimmed some of them.