I wanted so much to love this book the way I loved A Strange and Stubborn Endurance, and to be fair there were things I did enjoy. I cared as much for the central couple as I did in book one; Vae got some opportunities to show his potential in politics; Markel was as brilliant as ever; and there were also a few new characters I enjoyed meeting. I greatly appreciated that traumas from book one were not forgotten and continued to haunt Vel and Cae and affect their behaviour. I liked the court setting of much of this book and I also appreciated the attention paid to how the Ralian court and Val's family took the news of the alliance. 

Unfortunately there was a whole lot about the book which I found frustrating and disappointing and it significantly harmed my enjoyment. There was a lot of drama for the sake of drama, including relationship drama caused mainly by a lack of communication (though I will say that at least this did not lead to any breakups or to either of the main characters believing the other to have betrayed them, two sadly common outcomes of poor communication in other works of fiction).  A major plotline in the book hinged on a number of characters doing really stupid things, including one character revealed as a villain whose entire plan was frankly just completely ridiculous. A secondary relationship in the book felt distinctly unhealthy. I also disliked the author's choices as to when to insert sex scenes, for example when Val and Cae reunited after traumatising and physically harmful circumstances and instantly slept together without any time taken for hugging or talking first. I also found myself wondering what the point of the book was, because it ended with very little changed for the main characters from how it began. 

I'm unsure whether the author intends to continue the series, there are no dangling plot threads but I can see potential for more. Honestly I would still like to see a book three in the hope that it returns to the quality of book one.