The pace of the story picks back up as our heroine returns to Rifthold. With her court by her side, it's time for her to exact revenge, save those she can and discover just what the King of Adarlan has been plotting. But it's definitely not going to be an easy ride.

In some ways, this feels like it might have been the original plan for the climax of the series. While there is still plenty of story left to tell, there are a few 'endings' in here that you would normally expect to find at the denouement. As it is, perhaps this is more like the end of phase one. Left Me satisfied, but at the same time still wanting more!

I love how the author takes her characters and makes them fallible. The queen turned assassin, the witch who falls in love, the 'tart with a heart'... she's brilliant at making all of her characters fall into shades of grey, without making you lose sympathy for them (with the possible exception of Tamlin in ACOTAR... but even then...). Somehow she reflects that you don't have to be all good to be good, or all bad to be bad; there's just a fine line and your choices decide which side you fall on. There are a few cases of this being done very well in this book, and it really brings the characters into much sharper focus.

I'm interested to see how the immortality/mortality question plays out, especially given how much the author is stressing that certain characters will far outlive others. I'm a sucker for that kind of romance (10th Doctor and Rose, anyone?), so really hoping for a literal happily ever after! And the UST... *fans self* 

So far, I'm loving the series, even if I don't think it's quite as strong as ACOTAR. Now I just have to hope that the next two books arrive at the library at the same time, as I'm going to attempt the tandem read. Can't wait!