Er... 
 Not terrible. There were some good parts, heads in a bag here, a Cockney peeping phamTOM there, several cameos from much-loved characters (except for Lothaire, you rat-bastard...he's ruined for me forever http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10...). But Trehan and Bettina? The main couple, the focus of the entire book? BOOOORING! A big snooze-fest. 
 A day in the life of Trehan pre-Bride? 
 Duty, read, stare, read, kill someone, stare. SNORE! 
 A day in the life of Bettina pre-Trehan? 
 Fear, do as she's told, chastely lust after a man-whore, panic, fear. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!! 
 The completely clinical nature of their bedroom play also turned me off. And MAN was Bettina an idiot. Vastly too naive to be a heroine in the Immortal's After Dark series (I know this is a spin off, but that's just semantics). Remember Kaderin? Remember Regin (before her book!) and Myst? Funny, feisty, didn't need a man to be awesome females! 
 Bettina sucked without Trehan. 
 And Trehan sucked either way. 
 I hated Bettina's voice, how she asked questions like a child. I liked that she created weapons, and I liked that she (of all things) had small breasts (I know, what a weird thing to appreciate, but it takes all kinds and all body types can be beautiful). Her sorceri power was neat. 
 But... 
 I think I wanted her to stand up to everyone in the end, and she didn't! Not really. I gave her the benefit of the doubt, expecting her to win me over, make me believe she was something special in the end. She failed. 
 After, what?, 6 or so IAD hotter than hot males (Nikolai, Lachlain, Bowen, Sebastian, Rydstrom, Cadeon, even Malkom), with personality and problems and something interesting about them, Trehan as the first in a "new" series needed to be...more. I didn't love Declan, didn't love Trehan, HATED LOTHAIRE. This series is declining for me. I'll reread the older ones if I need a fix...