Lia is saved by Rafe from the river as they had tried to make their escape. But dressed like a pin cushion and dying, the cold journey to safety is long, hard and torturous. With help from Rafe's men and a persevering princess, they make their way to safe territory with their vital information of a coming siege. Kaden finds them and is "invited" into the party with shackles. Now, to convince generals of the hostilities coming and to weed out corruption from her own government while not getting captured or assassinated by the officials who work as spies for the Komizar.
I ended up actually putting this one down for a while, and wasn't super keen on getting back to it. The beginning, getting away, even the romantic escapades between certain characters were fine, but as the story went on toward the middle, Lia rather annoyed me. There was a lot of angst and an exorbitant amount of aggression between characters. In the previous books, it made sense because there were kidnappings and hostage-ness going on, but now trying to save all the kingdoms it seemed unnecessary and a lot.
I still really enjoyed the ancestral parts of the series. All of the ruins and lore and the fact that histories are different depending on where you're reading them from. Perspectives change as you jump from culture to culture and interpretations change and waver depending on situations. I do wish there was a little more history when it came to the ruins and cities that they passed through, but I know there are those, especially when it comes to Young Adult stories, that don't like going lore heavy. It is something that I very much enjoy and drink up wholeheartedly.
Aside from angsty-teenagery-ness I did enjoy the characters. Particularly side characters for this book. They were given more time on the center stage and I think they are what pulled me back into the story. Pauline especially, because you don't often get older, pregnant teenage girls who also have a baby in stories in general, especially in a fantasy setting. I enjoyed the fact that Pauline and Kaden didn't get a long and he was forced into midwifery and that he stood up for her later when she was being harassed. It was sweet and actually made me like Kaden more. Other characters bloomed too throughout the series and culminated here at the end.
Lia and Rafe's relationship was very apparent. They did make love and none of it was described physically . It was all emotional, which I think is a good, healthy way to be describing it--especially in a Young Adult book. It worked and it worked well.
I did enjoy the climax of the story. * spoilers * The war parts were well written and the fact that Lia was able to use her Gift to help was pretty cool. Though, with all the point of "sacrifice" in the prophecy, I was thinking she Mary Pearson might do something truly cool and kill of characters, an ending like the Divergent series or something. But it was a different kind of sacrifice which I guess was okay.... Fine. Mary Pearson isn't so bold as to kill of her main character in a dramatic, story driven way. Makes the girls who are squeeing about the story really happy.
All in all, it was pretty good. I enjoyed the series and would recommend it for people who are wanting a good series to read.
