This is about where this series started to drag for me. It's still fun and I actually really like that we are once again solving a love triangle with polyamory even if everyone, once again, thinks that they are not good enough for the other person.
Other themes of note are torture (and not the fun kind) and very much leaning into cultural stuff around food, which is interesting. Before it was just an argument over which countries have horribly British palates. Nice to see some food porn alongside the actual sex.

Super interested that gender is part of how we signal that a culture needs to change—cultures that are overly fixated on the past and what children owe to the clan's legacy are ALSO unwilling to accept gender fluidity—which, again, fits neatly into my ongoing theory that romance novels are educational prescriptions of how TO be rather than just attempts to delight the reader. Although, if you've made it this far in this series, I'm confused as to how you could still have remotely transphobic views, but I digress.

Anyway, it's fine. I have no complaints, but I'm also getting tired. Do plan to finish the fifth book asap though.