as I was reading this book I just kept thinking what can go wrong here? it felt like any tiny happiness or good would not last, knowing the author's pretty well after 7 books. the last 200 pages felt very intense. but this book did feel a bit lengthy for no reason. I did feel like I just want this to be over a few times. I also felt some serious/big scenes deserved more detail and emotion than they got. we did get lionel's pov which I wasn't super into but was an interesting idea. with only one book left I'm ready for the end to this series and to move on.