Look. This book is 650 pages long. Something is keeping me coming back. I just don't know what it is.


*SPOILER ALERT*

Auren finally grows herself a backbone. This is great but it comes right at the end and I am still not convinced by the journey to get there.

I'm also not convinced by Digby as a plot device. Dude was in it for 5 minutes in the first book and had all the charisma of a cardboard box. It feels clumsy and forced.

I *like* Rip. I like that decay thing he's got going on. And this is the slowest of slow burns which I do like. But when we finally get there, I'm not enjoying how it goes. The spice scenes weren't really for me. It fell a bit flat and after all that build up, that was DISAPPOINTING. I am not sure that I'm being sold their relationship particularly well.

The action in this book does pick up a pace (though am I the only one yawning every time Queen Malina has a chapter?) and about time after 2.5 books of nothing. There was a twist that I did not see coming which is rare for me and it was a good twist too. The last couple chapters were wild and absolutely needed to happen.

I will probably read the next one because I've invested all this time in it now. However, given the ending of this one, I feel like the pace might be returning to ity's glacial movement once again.