I think this is the best book out of the three; the plot is clearly defined and there is actually a beginning, middle and end to it, which serves to tie all of the strings from the series together. It certainly held my attention better than the previous two and the narrative flowed quite nicely throughout. 

While I do like the world the author has created, I do feel that it comes across a bit flat throughout the series; I found it very difficult to actually picture the people and places being described. And while I did feel drawn to many of the characters, none of them have made me want to bring them to life in my imagination after the book was closed.

As I said in my review of 'The Novice', throughout I've only been able to imagine Akkarin as a Voldemort-esque figure, robed and hooded with an air of mystery and darkness about him, which I thought is what the author was going for. But suddenly in this book we're meant to see him in a very different light; more tragic, more handsome,  more human. However, the shift seems to happen in the blink of an eye, and it just doesn't work for me.

Again, I have no problem with the age gap, but it's the whole student/teacher dynamic (especially from his side) that's giving me the ick this time. It feels like the author realised as she was writing that she hadn't included a romance element and so just threw her characters together for the hell of it. And it also made the ending 'surprise' entirely predictable.

I know there is a follow up series to this, and so I'm wondering if the introduction of Savara might be a set up for that. If it isn't, she feels like a character with so much potential that has definitely been wasted. 

Overall, I would probably buy these books if I saw them as a set in a charity shop/second hand, but they haven't entranced me enough to want to rush out and buy them new. I maintain my previous assertion that this would probably make quite a good TV show/film, as I think the visuals would translate well and, for once, I think stripping back the story to make it work in that format may just improve the overall quality.