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| Image courtesy of Bloomsbury Publishing |
That said, this book is interesting but is more about moving
pieces around and building up the army of the underdog heroes' forces so that
they might be able to stand a chance against the forces of evil that have been
building their army for years/decades. I do think it's interesting enough, and
there are enough hiccups so their plans never go overly smooth to be another
solid entry in the series. If you've read the previous books, I don't believe
this should make you drop the series. Especially being so close to the end.
Especially if you get to the cliff-hanger at the end that almost completely undercuts
everything that Aelin has been working towards the whole book.
Speaking of Aelin, she is pretty much a secondary character
in this book. Whether that is a pro or con is depending on how much you like
the side characters around her. This book splits the time between Aelin and
Rowan (who have already been built up over the previous books so their
relationship/characters don't really have many new wrinkles to add with so
little time between this book and the last – they are completely devoted to each
other and immensely powerful), Manon Blackbeak (who I really enjoyed in the
last book and continues to be pretty interesting) and Dorian (a very
interesting relationship partially because of how little it is explored but is
dripping with tension), Aedion & Lysandra (a nice slow-burn relationship),
and Lorcan and Elide. The Lorcan/Elide thing was a welcome surprise and I am
very upset with how things played out at the end of the book and I hope it gets
fixed in the last two books.
The beginning sees Aelin and co arriving in Terrasen
(finally), but the homecoming is not what she was expecting, and pretty much
told that unless something changes and she can truly prove herself as an actual
ruler, she will be royalty in name only because of how long she abandoned
Terrasen to play a pampered assassin in Adarlan (nicely ignoring the fact that
she was …16-19 or so when the book started so not a whole lot of sympathy for a
child choosing NOT to take up the role of a rebel queen, but politics – what
can you do).
Promptly telling them that she will be back with an army and
save Terrasen, and the world, whether they like it or not, she begins her
multi-step plan that she continues to hide the specifics of from pretty much
everyone unless she absolutely has to tell them to complete it.
She finds out that finding the Lock is essential to
defeating the big bad, so tries to fit that into her overall plans. Those plans
mean she ends up back in the home of the "Pirate King" and
browbeats/blackmails/bribes (a very strange mixture of all of those, but it
works) and gets part of a navy as they set out to find the Lock.
Between all this, you're occasionally given a glimpse of
Elide and Lorcan as they try to take advantage of each other without giving
anything away and not realizing how much they're starting to rely on each
other/enjoy each other's presence.
Both main storylines are interrupted by interparty fighting,
a bunch of the big bad's monsters, and old friends/enemies until they all meet
up in the swamp where the Lock is supposed to be.
Que big ol' army of monsters that drains everyone's magic,
followed by some major revelations, followed by Maeve's army that's been
lurking at the edges of the plot for the entire book and waiting for just such
an occasion.
The heroes make a solid play at defense, more allies show up
responding to the letters that Aelin sent out calling in all her favors, and
the big twist at the end. If that twist doesn't get you to want to read the
next book, I have no idea what will.
As an aside, I think this book has the most amount of sex
scenes out of the series. It's not a lot of sex or anything, but it's
there. So, if that's a turn-off, there's a handful of pages scattered through
the book that are not going to be your favorite.
Not my favorite book in the series, but still a good one.
3 out of 5.
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