Share 'Just finished Blood of Elves...'

...and I'm a little bemused as to why it got to the shortlist, let alone won. My main complaint is that it wasn't a stand-alone book. I know it's part of a series, but in every other series of books I've read (fantasy or otherwise) each part was connected but also a separate entity. Blood of Elves felt like it wasn't finished, as it had a very abrupt ending, with no hint of any of the storylin...