This is the best book in the series so far. We seem to have left the long internal diatribes and thoughts behind - probably because Ieka has someone to talk to where Ziena didn'ts (I probably butchered the spelling of those names). We see just enough of Ziena and Ainar to keep them active and in our thoughts until they are needed again. The correlation to Cinderella is pretty loose, but you can see hints of it here and there. It ends on a cliffhanger so be prepared for that.