This book doesn't feel like it fits in this series. For starters, the entire series has been one POV. Claras. All of a sudden we have 2 POVs, but Castien's chapters are so short and have zero substance to them, so I don't even understand why they were added in the first place. 

We leave the library entirely, and pretty much that entire magic system behind, which was a huge let down for me as it's my favorite thing about this series and one of the main reasons I've continued on to this point. 

I really liked that this one was more adventure based, and we had to go through all of the different trials in order to obtain an object. I've felt like this series has had very little development and no destination in mind, for the most part this book changed that, so in that sense, I did appreciate the change.

The other reason I've made it this far is the prince. Here's where we get into the biggest issue that I have. Clara is still so stubborn and blind to everything around her. She's unwilling to listen to anyone, or to even consider another approach to her problems and I hate it. She goes completely deaf to everything that isn't exactly the way she feels or thinks. It's absolutely frustrating and takes a lot away from the book for me as I just stew on it for the entire thing. 

We finally get some movement on the romance front, after 3.5 books of the two making goo goo eyes at each other and being unnecessarily cruel, if only to pretend they don't have feelings for one another. Then, in the next heartbeat, it's all ripped away and we're back to square one. Because, of course it is.

I flew through this book. As I said at the beginning, I really liked the adventure that we went on, which almost made it a 4 star book. But then Clara kept up her crap, and Castien got trampled on. And Ivor was Ivor. And I ended up feeling quite defeated by the end. So here we are.