There's a moment when Ophelia is on foot and walking towards the university where she asks herself if she wants to live (this is also the first time she meets Alex without giving too many spoilers), and it opens up a pathway to see how her story of survival unfolds

The book doesn't really speak much about the other characters in the Crowns of Nyaxia series other than the Gods, so I think this would be fine as a standalone. The core novels are nearly double the length of this one