This is a reread. 

It’s a good book, useful for the series as a whole, but it doesn’t stand very well on its own. It’s mostly a setup for the final book in the series. A very well-written book, and I appreciated the return of

Reyn, Selden, and Malta

but some characters were given very little to do; it was very clear they were in a holding pattern.

My favourite parts were

Sintara’s POV, the descriptions of Kelsingra, and the sequence where Malta gives birth and promptly goes mother bear on the creepy Chalcedean.

It’s enough for me to say I enjoyed it, but I do think this series as a whole could’ve been heavily edited down to a trilogy, or even a duology without losing any good meat.