I picked up this book a year and a half after reading the first 3, and I would have really benefitted from reviewing the series first. I thought I remembered enough going in, but I spent a majority of the book trying to remember who people are and what events had taken place. Maybe it was the amount of time I took between books 3 and 4, but I found this one didn't flow as well and I wasn't as absorbed. It felt like some events and characters were just filler and had nothing to do with the outcome.