The start of this book, breaking into a high security prison, was by far the most interesting first half of any of the other VA books so far. I admire her determination to get Dimitri back, going so far as to break the man she considers her enemy out of prison, and make a pact with the devil. But how did she not see that Dimitri would be profoundly changed by his experiences as a Strigoi? She is unable to see past the end of her nose half the time, with her selfish motivations. I got the impression that she expected Dimitri to just bounce back as though he hadn't just spent the past few months as a killing machine. 
 I feel very sorry for Adrian, too. True to her word, she gives him a chance and is dating him as this book opens, but despite her inner voice protests that she really does love him, all she ever thinks of is Dimitri, Dimitri, Dimitri. Even when he asks her to leave her alone, she just cannot bring herself to honour his wishes, going so far as to corner him in a church service filled with others, risking him making a spectacle of himself in front of all these people who still don't really know what to make of a Strigoi who's been turned back into a dhampir. Even Adrian, shallow as he is, deserves better than that, better than Rose. He's a character that has a lot of room for personal growth and this is ignored in favour of constant obsessing over Dimitri. It was low of Mead to already set up the basis for the Adrian - Sydney relationship that she's hinted at in the spinoff. (It was one line, but it was still a blatant set up). 
 On top of that, Rose just cannot keep her mouth shut, even though she knows that it always gets her into trouble. She brings all the shit down on herself and I feel nothing but frustration towards her.