This was the best one yet. And just gorgeous character development. Celaena/Aelin gets the time and space she needs to mourn, whine, dig deep, figure out her powers, train, learn about her past and her future, come to grips with what she's lost and what she could still gain, and forgive herself for so much of what she blamed herself for that was never her fault. The introduction of Rowan as a friend, a person to lean on and confess to, to be consoled by and to save, but with no romantic strings attached, is one of my favorite character developments of all time. The role a friend can play, in what they can do for you and the healing you can find in doing for them, the love between friends, is different than anything else, and just as important, if not more so in many cases, than a bond of love in a romantic sense. So much of that was explored in this book, between Aelin and Rowan, Chaol and Dorian, and other bonds, like Aedion with Aelin, Manon and Abraxos - I just loved all of it. There does not need to be a complicated love triangle to create strong emotions in books. And in cases where there is love, like Dorian and Sorscha, it can be different than the typical. It's a beautiful ode to the power of connections. And I adored it. I loved seeing Aelin grow and step into who she is (after a totally reasonable amount of time - enough to be believable, not too much that it got old). And the development of stories outside of hers. Chaol's decisions to break his "honor" and fight for what he believes is right. Manon, who is facing a similiar dilemma as Choal - and is finding that her connection with Abraxos is causing her to question the same way he did. I am excited to see where his story goes. And Maeve - dark and terrible and always sitting and waiting (but, we see, out of fear and loss, so that's interesting) - I'm sure her role is not over yet. But I'm so glad to see Rowan free of her. And Dorian. Oh Dorian. I mean, kudos to the author for delivering blow after blow to her characters, in not holding punches - they've all faced and lost so much and keep moving on. But let's talk about how Dorian seems to be the forgotten one in all the mess, who has lost first his father, then Celaena, Chaol, Sorscha, any stability/safety he had with the discovery of his magic, I'm sure is facing lots of guilt for everything his father has done and he hasn't stopped, and now, now he is a slave to his father, taken by the blackness. So much for one person to lose. I mean this is a whole series of tragedy for everyone, and a testament to all the light they've found in the darkness through their relationships to each other, to be able to have any will to keep fighting at all. I just really can't wait to keep reading because though it started questionably, this series and it's characters have just come into their own more than I can even describe. I can see what the hype was about now.