An enjoyable conclusion to an emotional tale. I liked the dynamic between Jem and Cador a lot here. The combination of guilt from one side and betrayed feelings from the other was emotionally wrangling in the best way, the groveling remained just shy from over the top, and I especially appreciated how all the hot scenes played into the relationship development. I'm a sucker for long journeys of trust restoration full of "yeah, I have feelings, but that doesn't change anything" moments, and this book absolutely delivered.

The political plot, though, was somewhat underwhelming—or rather not the plot itself, but how it was delivered. Perhaps it was because the book had a strong "second half of the same story" feel to me rather than a sequel. I kind of expected the pacing of non-romance events to be much faster, but instead at the beginning it's rather slow and meandering, only truly picking up around the middle and then snowballing in the last part of the book. It was also kinda weird that so many events hinged on the party getting split and half the characters just wondering elsewhere doing whatever while the two main characters sorted out their feelings.

Despite that, I did very much enjoy all the reveals, I liked seeing Cador as the fish out of water for once, I found the worldbuilding consistently fun, and the romance—the main thing I came here for—was even better than in the first book. So all in all, a great read.