A beautifully written book, no question. I found myself wishing aspects of it were real: I wanted to go to Robbie's rendition of Midsummer, I wanted to play in the art exhibit...

But about midway, this book just wasn't /doing/ enough for me. All the time in the world, and Addie pines in France for almost two centuries, revisiting her home at least four times, and every time swearing she's here "for closure"? And then she finally gets a taste of a real relationship...and she spends most of it ordering food. Just food! Beer, coffee, gyros, kebabs, croissants - my gods. Maybe it was realistic, but it was also sad, how much our tiny lives revolve around food. I got bored, and then I got angry that Addie wasn't /doing/ more with her time. Is the book /supposed/ to make the reader feel like Luc? Because I don't think so, I think we're supposed to root for Addie... I don't. I found her snobby, and unimaginative, and /she's/ the muse for so many people she passes?!
The meta commentary about writing was the nail in the coffin for me, though. The ending was enough to knock off a star, in my eyes :/. Henry's whole purpose... Is to never have a self, just to prop up Addie? His whole conflict was about feeling purposeless! Way to do Henry dirty.

A twisting, paranormal, whodunit, this book is not for the faint of heart... or stomach. Major trigger warnings. But it's a mesmerizing, must-read. The book tackles some very mature themes about how girls - especially descendants of immigrants - are mistreated by American society. Girls whose lives fall into an ugly truth - drug trafficking, sex trafficking, abuse, poverty, homelessness - are treated as invisible or expendable. Entire economic systems - be they high society or low - are built on the exploitation of young women. This book delivers a heroine who dares to do more than survive in a rigged system: she demands respect from her abusers, defies the limits set on her, shows compassion for others despite her own suffering, and forges herself into someone proactive and chivalrous. Galaxy Stern is right up there with Mia Corvere (Nevernight) and Julia Wicker (The Magicians) in the Bad@$$ Girls Club.

A heart-racing story, the courtly intrigue on par with anything in Game of Thrones. Jude is a wonderfully flawed narrator: like Katniss Everdeen, she's playing a game she's less-proficient at than she once assumed, and misinterprets allies and enemies alike. My one grumble with this book is that 90% of the conflict is caused by Jude trying to manage everything herself, instead of bringing others into her confidence. It's not the fault of the author, Jude /is/ acting in character, even if it's a trope and had me screaming at the book. Be genre savvy, Jude! Your scheming is only going to make YOU look like the bad guy before the end, if you don't tell your /teammates/ the plan! See The Severus Snape School for Keeping Secrets here!

I suppose I have one, second, nitpicky, minor grumble: I devoured this book in two days, I was along for the story... But the book is exposition-heavy. It's a beautiful world Holly Black designed, a lot for the imagination to drink up. But there were few metaphors, few quotable lines, everything was a plot point. I feel breathless, having raced through all the surprises and dangers right there with Jude, and I mark it as a 5 star thing if a book can make me /feel/ something. But I worry that once I get to the end of the trilogy, the book won't be re-readable, if all it has going for it is plot :/. I hope I eat those words. We'll see!

I am thankful for a happy ending to this trilogy, because I do care desperately about these characters. But for a series which has taken EVERY opportunity to highlight how dangerous, gruesome, ugly and manipulative The Folk can be, I actually feel a little upset that we got TOO happy an ending. The epilogue is just pure, Disney channel levels of cheese.

And I'm angry over how short the book is. A short book can be tight and well-written, "brevity is the soul of wit", and all that. But when you're talking about an epic, multi-elemental, multi-/dimensional/, three-way war for the crown, it seems kind of careless to wrap-up the inevitable clash in two pages. There were more details of Jude getting dressed and undressed, or taking a bath, than there were of factions campaigning or fighting. And SPOILER ALERT the only major character death we got happened between books, off-page; absolutely nobody of consequence died in the battle. Seems unlikely, and therefore unearned, that EVERYBODY made it out of this conflict unscathed, given the BLOODBATH which was the first book. I had my expectations raised, and I don't feel like I was rewarded. Much as I don't /want/ my favorite characters to die, you have to do right by the world you build. You promised me a murder book... where's my murder...

There were some loose ends too, which I would love to see addressed in future books. First off, whatever becomes of Suren and Oak? But more importantly, WHAT was up with Taryn?! I never completely understood her character. Sometimes she was genuinely sweet and understanding of others, sometimes she was self-delusional and only wanted things to /seem/ nice and ignore ugly truths, sometimes she was a manipulative, wily, survivalist, as cunning as her foxy husband! I expected big reveals, like Locke wasn't the father of her baby, or she was using Locke to amass a fortune, or his death fueled a magic spell of some kind, or SHE didn't kill him! I want this series all over again, but from Taryn's perspective, so I can finally make sense of all her swings in characterization/motivation.

Also, while we're on the subject: Locke was done dirty. He was a secondary antagonist trying to become primary for the first two books, and then he was just... wiped out. Given Locke's reputation for scheming, and "crafting stories", I really thought he was going to have the last laugh. Maybe he wasn't really dead. Maybe he set a curse in motion with his death. Maybe his gifts, or his memories, or something get passed along to his son. SOMETHING! Seems implausible that the master of stories didn't have much of a story in the end.

And speaking of his son, I am annoyed that this book fell into some YA trope traps. Teenage romance is compelling, and a sex-positive story is important. But teen girls are spoon-fed story after story about how other teenage girls should desire marriage, particularly to a bad-boy they think they can change, and that they'll /immediately/ get pregnant after they tame said boy. I'm sad for Taryn, that she's a pregnant teen with a cheating husband. I'm sad for Jude, that she's emaciated and anxious ALL the time, and is /physically abused/ by the person who "loves" her, and that she ignores all her problems - or the merits of an honest conversation with Cardan - in favor of sex. Sex does not solve your emotional troubles, ladies. It doesn't make your boyfriend nicer, it only fleetingly makes you feel better... Sex is not medicine. Furthermore, I'm sad that - given the reputation of The Folk for growing bored with lovers or keeping multiple lovers - Jude and Cardan can't possibly be destined to last. I wish this story had taken the opportunity to build a multiple-partners-positive narrative into the tale, to show that Jude would be okay when, inevitably, another person comes into Cardan's orbit. If this book had been longer, and expanded upon the budding respect between Nicasia and Jude, maybe Nicasia could have been that person. And Jude would have made an excellent and entertaining bisexually lead character.

Finally, another word on tropes: PROPHECIES! Dear Authors, don't use prophecies. Just don't. I know your world is magical, and you have characters reading portents into everything from stars to bones. But don't. Telling your reader ahead of time what's going to happen takes ALL the surprise and emotional punch out of the conflict when it finally happens! And this book not only had a prophecy, but a story-within-a-story which tipped the big reveal at the climax of the book! I was told the story before the story told me the story. That's like when my sister yelled, just as I was turning to the final chapter of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, "Hey, did you find out it's Professor Quirrel, yet?!" (I will never get over that, Mir! -_-). Don't tell the reader what to look for. Trust your reader! Words to live by, I promise you. Trust. Your. Reader.

So in summary: Well-written world, characters I care about, happy for a happy ending... But some problematic message for the target audience, some loose ends, and a heap of tropes, which leave Queen of Nothing only an average conclusion, instead of an epic one.

PS - I love Cardan, but he /did/ nearly kill Jude in The Cruel Prince, and I'm not sure that it's okay to handwave the extreme depths of his cruelty with, "Well, he had a rough childhood." I mean, sure he did, and it's sad. But ladies, we don't have to forgive our abusers just because they're going through something rough. I feel like Jude is owed an apology :/.

DNF - I am so disappointed :/. I waited a long time to get a copy of this book, I was hyped for it. But I couldn't get past the first 30 pages. In fact I had to reread them, and still... The author's writing is so awkward, so wordy and clunky... I didn't understand what was happening, and I couldn't connect to Phyllis.

I feel like this book suffers from Second Book-itis. The first book was nail-biting and intriguing, as you try to unravel the mystery (and potential supernatural elements) right along with the protagonist, Ethan. But this second book was redundant and pointless by comparison. The melodrama around Theresa and Kate was squicky, and completely pointless given they're dealing with the apocalypse. Alyssa's whodunnit plot was equally pointless, who cares about the mysterious murder of one girl when there is a ritualistic murder of citizens every few weeks?
Ethan's plot beats in general weren't very different from the beats of the first book. His choice to incite a fete, then reveal the truth to the town, felt foolish and unearned. I get that this is a man with anger issues, and his rebellion is a culmination of that. But there was no plan for the next step after the reveal, which shows in the book's "dramatic" cliffhanger. What did he think was going to happen? How was a coup going to end any other way than Walking Dead-ing it across Idaho?
There were some plot points that went nowhere. Abby's have superhuman intelligence... Okay, but the only interactions they have with humans are of hunting humans down. Would have been interesting to see Ethan try to communicate with one. Or to find out that Pilcher or Pam could. The students were being brainwashed... Okay, but what were they being taught exactly? Were they being told about the abbys, and the destruction of humanity? Or just that Pilcher was supreme? And to what end? Their loyalty? To incite violence? To eventually replace the first generation, and erase humanity's understanding of history?
What was the point of it all? That is my takeaway from the end of this book: The melodrama, the rehashing events from the first book, the empty threats about town... What was the point of it all?

I waffled all over the place with what to rate this book, since the different elements earned vastly different ratings, in my opinion.

World-building: 5 stars. Yes, okay, I was a /liiiittle/ disappointed to see ANOTHER magic school, but overall the different kinds of magics, the caste system of magic-wielders as /servants/, and the Russian folktale inspired setting, had me invested.

Themes: 4 stars. A little on the nose, but I found them important themes that a YA audience might need or seek to help deal with real life trauma. There is the obvious theme of Darkness and Light (Greed and Mercy/Selflessness) keeping each other in check, which was represented physically in some beautiful magical moments between The Darkling and Alina. But there's a second story being told about rape culture, and how this one girl learns she has the strength not only to not depend on a man, but to confront people who seek to use and abuse her. She has a very literal inner light/strength.

Plot: 3 stars. Things seem to just clunk into place because people say so. One day, Alina is revealed to be a Sun Summoner, because The Darkling says so, and now that's all she wants in life is to be a Sun Summoner! Another day, Marie and Nadia are her friends now, because they say so! Another day, Alina's powers get stronger, and she has no more nightmares, and she has an appetite, because... she decided to! And she and The Darkling talk maybe twice about vapid nothings, how was school, how's your day, ho hum... until they're kissing hungrily and begging for more, because this is a romance now, we say so! And then The Darkling is evil, because Baghra says so! And much much later Alina overcomes slavery... you guessed it, because she said so!
Long, spoilery rant, short: I didn't always feel that the plot points were earned. Things were abrupt, forced, sometimes awkward, like they were only included to satisfy a YA Bingo card...

Romance and Characterization: 2 stars. Oof, yeah this is the heavy hitter that dragged this book down for me. Obviously, The Darkling is controlling and abusive, but even before the midway reveal of his schemes, I wasn't feeling him as a love interest. He was A) In a position of power over Alina, like a schoolteacher, with 100+ years on her. So, right there, grooming. And B) The Darkling and Alina shared very few scenes before their first kiss, there was not a lot of foundation laid.
But Mal was no better for her. Mal had no interest in Alina until she was in the clutches of another man; defined her value in relation to him (ex. I am good man if I take care of you, and bad man if I let you take care of yourself. Ergo, I love you when you need me?), and was brutally judgmental and condescending of everything from Alina enjoying magic school (yeah, who wouldn't, they have champagne here!) to NEEDING TO EAT!!! Spoiler alert ladies, if the "partner" in your life criticizes what you eat, RUN!! Mal played blame-the-victim, too, guilting Alina for appreciating The Darkling's generosity and attention (because, wah, he saw her first. And ownership is nine tenths of the romance, right folks?), and even going so far as to FORGIVE her for being wooed by The Darkling. Forgive her? Forgive her?! She wasn't Mal's fiancee, or girlfriend, or anything. She owed Mal nothing more than friendship, which she continued to give even as he was terse with her. Grow up, Mal! If you like it, then you shoulda put a ring on it!
But... *sigh*... I'm sorry, Shadow and Bone fans, I didn't like Alina either :/. She was sulky and self-deprecating, and constantly looking for a man to be with or a man to validate her place in the world... She was a weak sauce heroine. I know, her big strength is supposed to be her kindness, and hey, some girls identify with that. You do you. I didn't find Fluttershy the Sun Witch compelling. In fact, by the end, I was actively rooting for her to lose something important, so that she could have a turning point and become wicked.
Circling back to The Darkling... am I missing something here? I feel like I must be too Slytherin to follow this plot... because The Darkling doesn't sound like the bad guy to me. In fact, his plan seems pretty darn reasonable. A bunch of neighboring countries have been at war for a century, the border countries actively killing off wizards, while the central country keeps them as slaves or soldiers. The Darkling's plan is to use magic to spook the bloodthirsty muggles into leaving the wizards well enough alone, thus ending the war, and lifting wizard-kind from enslavement... How is this a bad thing?!?!? (Yes, I know he destroys his own townspeople with dark magic. I didn't say that he was perfectly written, only that his rebellion makes sense.) I don't understand why we're rooting for Alina to keep status quo, instead of for The Darkling to lead a coup. The King is a rapist, The Queen is a lazy diva, wizards are slaves, people are dying... Yeah, time for some new management. Go Darkness.
Honestly, the best character in the book was Genya. She was sassy, damaged, literally hiding her emotional scars behind a magical glamour mask... Every time Genya was mentioned, it was always "beautiful Genya", and given Alina's obsession with Genya's beauty, I reeeeeally thought this was going to turn into a lesbian love story. How fantastic would that have been! In a story where the theme was /trying/ to be, "Girls, you don't need no man!"... YES, show us a protagonist who doesn't need a man! I was heavily invested in the camaraderie between these two. I felt the story got bogged down when Genya was given a crush on a background, male character, and Alina went hiking for days with Mal... Imagine if they had begun to fall for one another, before Alina had to flee, and when they were reunited... Genya's betrayal, her red robes, her politicking to gain power, would have hit as an even deeper betrayal: Alina who believes you can beat the system by being kind, and Genya who believes your only choice is to play the system and be more ruthless/cunning than everybody else! Bwahaha! Will they reconcile in the sequel?! Stay tuned! That story would have had my attention. Alina waffling between two hot guys who are mean to her while she is mean to herself for 350 pages... did... not...

All in all, I'm hopeful this is just a bumpy start, and the remaining Grishaverse books kick it up a notch. (I mean, hey, Sorcerer's Stone isn't the best of the Harry Potter books, but you have to introduce your world somewhere!) We'll see :/.

DNF :/. It's clearly Black Wolf of Wall Street, and that's fine; using your writing to highlight the disparity between races in the American workforce is important. But the book's "humor" is unnecessarily vulgar and racist. I only read as far as p.77, and had to stop, because my delicate little snowflake inner ear couldn't handle hearing:
- White people referred to as pigment-deficient, mayonnaise-loving, Seinfeld-watching, Columbus-Day-celebrating WASPs.
- A white woman's smile described as "beaming like a firefly's ass."
- A suicide attempt referred to as "selfish" because it occurred on a subway track, and slowed the protagonist's commute.
- Constantly using the word "retard" in a derogatory manner.
I had to stop. Having a message is a great thing. But wrapping it up in sputum... who is going to listen to you?
Maybe somebody won't mind the trash talk, and will appreciate this book more. I was not that somebody :/.

I found this book charming, funny, and EXTREMELY relatable. Tsukiko is every girl who's been told she's not "feminine" enough. A slice of life tale about a near-middle-aged woman who becomes companions with her former high school literature teacher (who is 30 years her senior). The pair are equally blunt, whimsical, socially anxious and desperately lonely. What begins as companionship deepens into a life-changing, meaningful relationship.

This is one of those rare cases, though, where the last few pages of a book completely distorts the entire book XD. Up until the final chapter, Tsukiko and "Sensei" (with many shy starts and stops) fall into a romantic relationship. I thought it was beautiful representation, showing that physical attraction and intimacy is not what's most important, or even a contributing factor, for some couples. Sometimes, love is being able to sit quietly with someone, or strolling through nature, or eating together, or feeling safe enough to fall asleep next to them, or feeling secure enough to speak your mind to someone... There are a lot of behaviors people exhibit, both within their own personality and in how they behave as a couple, which can foster passionate love, and it's as real as the relationships which use sex to form intimacy.
But the LAST chapter had to wreck all of that by having Sensei insist that physical intimacy is a necessary part of every relationship.
Another point, Tsukiko awakens to the possibilities of the world around her, after being shut in for so many years afraid to trust or try anything new. Being with Sensei makes the world more inspiring and desirable to her. I had inferred that she had learned from her relationship not to choose isolation anymore, even if putting yourself out there is sometimes stress-inducing and awkward.
... But again, the LAST chapter has Tsukiko quickly sum up that Sensei died three years ago, and she has not kept up any of the friendships or activities she made/did with him, instead isolated once more and crying over his absence.
I can just imagine the Hollywood producer adapting this book, insisting that they make it a happy ending: Tsukiko strolling down a busy market, marveling at all the life around her, fade to black as she walks into the sunset...

It confuses me that the original title of this book was "Sensei's Briefcase". There is some symbolism going on with Sensei always carrying around a briefcase, and in the end he's dead and the case is empty... But there is so much more symbolism in the book about the changing seasons, and weather, and how it mirrors Tsukiko's self-discovery and her relationship with Sensei. The change in title was smart. I wish whoever had told the author to do that, had also told her to drop the sad final chapter about the empty briefcase XD.

Can I give some quick applause too for the fact that this is a romance about a couple with a substantial age difference that didn't make me feel squicky?! So refreshing! These two were so sweet and funny with each other, they clicked across time and space, it was beautiful to see kindred spirits united despite all the stigmas in their way.

A lovely, romantic read. I highly recommend.

I flew through this book with my heart in my throat, taking "anxiety breaks" along the way because I was so concerned for the fate of these characters. The strongest part of this series has always been its characters: They are emotionally complex, loving and respectful of one another even when their points of view pit them on opposite sides of a /war/, and from modest (or even traumatic) roots they grow into noble heroes.

But in hindsight... I realize my excitement in reading this book was to race to the finish and see what would happen... and unfortunately the answer was: Not a lot. :/ The last 30 pages knocked two stars off this read. Spoilers ahead:

The first 2/3 of this book were friends who don't want to go to war fretting internally about how they're going to war. But these friends are not foot soldiers being /forced/ into an undesirable situation. They are /powerful/ people, kings and queens! If you don't want to go to war... don't! Call a summit! Sue for peace! Send a negotiator or an ambassador! Draft up an alternative contract to atone for past crimes (like sending Harper and Nola Virin to swap places for a year). Or, you know... capitulate! Rhen knows he owes Sylh Shallow money... Send them money! Give them their trade route access! Grey doesn't want to be king, he just wants to protect Lia Mara... So yield! Forsake your claim to the Emberfall throne, and be Lia Mara's husband! (Which would not quite be a king, since their monarchy is slightly different, but it's close enough!) Hey, why not even change the rules?! The entire older generation of rulers is dead, you can reshape the kingdom however you want! If Narnia can have two kings and two queens, why not The empire of Embersylh? Reigning in my rant, what started as necessary exposition to set up the perspectives of each main character slowly became a slog of redundancy. Nobody wanted this war, I was always convinced that they were going to make peace... but nobody came up with a creative solution for what that peace should look like, instead moping and doubting for 200-300 pages. By the end of which, characters seemed to be repeating themselves and sticking to their bad choices purely out of spite. (Grey swearing Rhen was never his friend?! Psssh, as if! Rhen promising Lilith he would kill Grey, again?! Come on already!) For every revelation and step towards emotional maturity, the author would yank the characters back three steps, just to keep the will-they-won't-they alive. It was disingenuous and annoying after so much reading time invested.

The reader has also been teased with a wider world: The mostly annihilated magesmiths, the anti-magic terrorist group building in Sylh Shallow, and the scravers of Iishellasa who are missing their king and crown prince. NONE of these factions play a significant role in the climax of the book/series; they may as well collectively be known as Sir Not-Appearing-In-This-Series. Maybe they were established to setup a spinoff? Or a standalone novella? But it was EXTREMELY unrewarding for a third (or fourth!) party not to swoop in and disrupt our heroes' plans (or provide an unlikely alliance to turn the tide of battle!). In fact, it is /astonishing/ that none of the minor characters were somehow involved in a double-cross. (Bloodthirsty Nola Virin consorts with an Emberfall spy who is /also/ an anti-magical terrorist, and Nola Virin doesn't pull a bloody coup?! Shenanigans! Tycho goes missing for most of the book, and he's not found rallying magical refugees, or writing to Iisak's kingdom for reinforcement?! Blasphemy! Lilith pops all over the darn map, and she's not revealed to have been a minor character in disguise all along?! Seriously?!) This book had a HUGE waste of potential.

So, the plot trudged and had no major twists... Well, except maybe one: Spoiler alert, Rhen eats Lilith. He turns into a dragon again, and rips her to shreds... If he had the power to do that ALL THIS TIME, why didn't he?!?!?! What is all this nonsense?! Two books' worth of Rhen making terrible choices he thinks are for the greater good, because he can't see a way around doing Lilith's bidding, when he could have EATEN HER and been done with her!!! This plot point feels like a betrayal to the readers. All the setup about Grey fostering his own magic, or Rhen finding a magical weapon powerful enough to slay Lilith, or Lia Mara's insistence that there must be a non-violent solution, or literally /anyone's/ ability to sympathize with Lilith's being the alleged sole survivor of a /genocide/ and choosing to punish her crimes in a more just way, or a more /karmic/ way!... Nope, witch gets eaten. Shrug. And the ultimate betrayal is that there is nothing /thematic/ about Lilith's downfall. It's not about the inner strength Harper or Grey has cultivated, it's not about Rhen facing his abuser and conquering his fears, it's not about a ragtag group of heroes rallying around love and friendship and refusing to play her games anymore... Nope, magic beats magic, the end.

Speaking of thematic arc, and circling back around to characters... I feel that every single character arc was done dirty in the end:
- Rhen - A privileged prince who becomes the victim of abuse, and who - through this traumatic series of events - learns to be humble, honest, and trusting... In this book, is sad and scared and remains sad and scared. Grey doesn't even throw him a bone and offer Rhen a new station as Chief Advisor or Grand Marshall; Rhen is left wallowing and purposeless in a world which no longer needs or wants him. Way to do a primary protagonist dirty, B.K.
- Harper - A muggle girl from our world who finds herself thrust into the magical, cursed realm of Emberfall. Initially brazen but self-doubting, Harper learns - both through training and through the friendships she cultivates along the way - that she is stronger than she seems, nobody's burden, and her greatest strengths are her compassion and ability to see from another's perspective. In fact, her empathy is SO strong, she alone of all the heroes never loses faith in Rhen... NONE of Harper's heroic qualities will be of help in the finale. She will be shunned as a lying, sneaky traitor by everyone except Rhen, she will not face Lilith in some epic Muggle vs. Enchantress boss battle, and she will get an uncertain denouement. Does she stay with Rhen in Emberfall? Do they become official members of Grey's court? Do they go rogue, exploring the lands, helping hither and thither like little Robin Hoods? Do they remain a couple at all? Does Harper return to the muggle world? Does Rhen go with her?! So many questions, none answered. This is the primary female protagonist, and the central love interest, of the first book, and she gets NOTHING!
- Grey - Raised as a farm boy who later joined the royal guard, Grey learns that he is actually a bastard prince, and a magical one to boot... A secret he intended to take to his grave, because he didn't want to take the crown from Rhen, which mattered so much more to his friend than it did to Grey. When Rhen takes a series of reckless, belligerant, violent actions - mostly in response to the threat of Lilith - Grey feels his hand is forced, and for the good of the realms he must claim the throne. But he doesn't want it! It's one of his cornerstones: He doesn't know how to rule, he wasn't raised for it, he has no desire to subjugate people, he is a protector and not a politician... But this book ends with him deposing Rhen and then trying to get the courtly cheat sheet from Rhen over a few drinks. I touched on this before, either Grey should have abdicated, or he should have made a more respectful show of inviting Rhen, officially, into his inner circle. If this series was a bromance between these two boys, then it wasn't enough to end - Sopranos style - in a tavern cracking jokes about the barmaid's boobies -___-. Because eventually... that lunch break ends... And Rhen is still depressed, and Grey is still a reluctant ruler.
- Lia Mara - Soft-spoken and shrewd, Lia Mara's greatest strengths have always been her intelligence and diplomacy. Unfortunately, she was born to a kingdom which values brute strength and ruthlessness. Time and again Lia Mara is told she is too meek to rule. Eventually, Lia Mara learns to stand up for herself, and to publicly stick by her convictions... But, learning to shout orders at people who disagree with you is not the same as learning how to move the pieces of your court so that they best /serve/ you. Nor is it learning when to listen to and when to lecture to your advisors. And what good does Lia Mara's new loud voice do her? She flees her castle because it's riddled with assassins, and she follows a path Grey has already cleared, so she doesn't have to rally anyone to battle. Her cleverness could have been extremely helpful in tracking down the hive of assassins, but she outsourced that job to her sister. And the book threatens a major battle in the passage Lia Mara takes, but it never occurs, so her ability to rule is never /really/ seen... And THEN (ugh, because we can't have a YA Fantasy without someone getting knocked up) Lia Mara learns she's pregnant, and will probably have a magical baby, and afterwards her ENTIRE character is wrapped up in worrying about how to keep magic-baby a secret. For starters, she doesn't plan on going back to Sylh Shallow. You know, where the PLOT is. An intelligent, brave, untested young ruler... side-lined with a stay-at-home mommy story. Lame!

I hate to say it... But the worst thing about this book is that it's not creative enough :/. That's not a review you want to give a FANTASY finale. But it's not, it's not creative. Characters stagnate, setups fizzle out or come to nothing, no big moves are made to change the structure of the world to /avoid/ friend-versus-friend again in the future (or to avoid genocide of magical beings in the future), and after Xhundred pages it just... ends. Complain about something fixable, complain about something fixable, fix it in a bandaid way, grab a beer, fade to black, ignore the ladies in the background it's their collective time of the month or something I don't know this is a book about manships now.

So sad to see the wasted potential :'(.