I've made no secret of the fact that I haven't really enjoyed this author's work in the past, for varying reasons that you can review on other comment threads if you like. However, for the first... oh, let's say 75% of this story... I was right there with the MC, right in the story, enjoying the descriptions and the details and the magic...
And then I started to realize that nothing much was actually happening. By the end, I'd distilled the plot down to these six words: "Sorceress's old lover dies. She's sad."
I felt very much let down by the fact that entire conflict of the story -- which doesn't really get introduced until too late -- was Laurana trying to resolve her own emotions about loving Christina while her old lover is still alive, though dying... and then she dies, and Laurana is unexpectedly sad in the same way that everyone who bottles up their emotions and then experiences a crisis event and everything spills out gets sad. I don't think I missed anything in the story that would invalidate that opinion.
All that said, I really loved the worldbuilding, and the magic, and the exotic locale, and the hints of the Flame Plague and sorcery wars and all that stuff. Plus, golems replacing slaves, which was a nice way of getting around the slavery politics of the sugar plantations in the Caribbean (and if this wasn't the Caribbean, then whatever Caribbean-like place the story occurred in). I wouldn't be averse to trying out more stories set in this world, as long as there's more plot and it arrives MUCH sooner.
The reading was... mostly okay, except when she got excited and loud and read faster, breaking her pace. Also, she redlined several times, especially in the beginning, and I could hear the waveform topping out. However, given that she seems to have obtained new equipment, I'll give it a pass this time. I just didn't think there was a need to quicken the pace in the places she did.