First of all, I just want to say to everyone complaining about how we finally got two paragraphs mentioning gay people...y'all, it's not the end of the world. You've already had 10 books of straight relationships, and I don't see how mentioning that queer people exist is somehow more "adult" content than the literal torture, kidnappings, drugs, murder, and warfare that the rest of the books contain.
(Also, if you all ruin the chances of the one couple I'm actually rooting for because of your complaining...I'm not going to be happy.)

I'm sticking to my previous review rules for this series by not actually rating this, as I don't feel it fair to rate a childhood favorite series of mine the same way I rate other books. Did I appreciate the extra time with a certain character? Yes. Do I think that any of the "super special secret bonus information that's required for book 10" is actually required? Probably not. Look, I'm going to read everything in this series even if it annoys me (like Keefe's initial 50 pages of angsty internal monologue).
When I inevitably reread this, I'll do my notes on it as I did with the other books in the series, but for now, I'll leave you with this:
MILD SPOILERS
- I 110% believe that Alvar has discovered smutty romance books, and he reads them to "improve his English"