I quite enjoyed this book but I had a lot of issues with it too. I was a bit disappointed in Heir of Fire and had really hoped that this would fix everything I didn't like about the previous one. While this book was better in some ways, it was worse in others, overall I enjoyed it as much as Heir of Fire, but I was disappointed in them both for different reasons. 
 GOOD: 
 - I love the authors writing style which was just as good as ever in this. All her characters were well written and badass and the action scenes were very exciting to read. 
 - The plot was well structured and fast paced which was a big improvement from HOF which I found to be too slow. In this book, there was always something happening, never a dull moment to bore you. And some of the plotlines finally started coming together so it didn't feel like I was reading a million different stories with no connection to each other. 
 - The female characters were amazing and I loved their interactions with each other. I also grew to like Manon a bit more, who I basically ignored in the last book. 
 BAD: 
 - My biggest complaint is that every single guy is in love with Aelin. WTF!!?? Whats so bloody amazing about her? I dont understand why every single man who meets her becomes obsessed with her - Dorian, Chaol, Arobynn, Rowan, Sam. Like seriously, if Aedion wasnt her cousin, he too would be pining after her. I was getting real tired of reading about how amazing and beautiful Aelin was. It actually made me hate her. 
 - There is a lot talk in this about how Aelin has changed and is no longer as selfish or arrogant as she used to be. She acts like Celeana was her evil version that she'll only ever be again when she needs to do something horrible. But I actually prefer Celeana. Despite her being a bitch sometimes I actually really liked her. I feel like Aelin is someone else that I just can't bring myself to love. She's still badass and all that but I feel like she's lost her likeability somewhere in her transition. Aelin feels very different to Celeana - they care about different people and have different priorities. 
 - DORIAN WAS BARELY IN IT!!!! He is my favourite character and it really pissed me off how little page time he got. 
 - Chaol and Celeana's relationship was completely ruined. I was so excited that in this book they'd finally reunite but the way their scenes were written completely killed any excitement I had. I feel like the author deliberately destroyed their relationship so she'd have an excuse to pair her off with Rowan. I'm not even a Chaol/Celeana shipper, but even I was pissed off by how badly it was treated, I cant imagine how actual shippers feel. 
 - I didnt really care for Rowan. I feel like he's a very typical alpha male that I've read a million freakin times. Chaol and Dorian are both way more interesting than him, which is why it was so upsetting to see Rowan take all the page time they could have had. I mean Rowan had more page time than both Chaol and Dorian put together. It was infuriating!!!! 
 - I dont feel like this series is the same one that I fell in love with anymore. Two of the original main characters have been sidelined in favour of newer characters who I don't care about as much. I just wish the author would focus more on them and less on the newbies :/ I have seen a lot of people compare this book to fanfiction and I can definitely see where they're coming from. Its like the author started writing this book and realised that she really liked Rowan so she gave him a big part in it and ruined Chaoleana to justify his romance with Aelin. She seems to have lost sight of what the series was supposed to be and changed everything so it now revolves around Rowaelin and some random characters. 
 In conclusion, though I did enjoy this book quite a bit, this series has a lot of problems for me, mostly how certain characters are treated, that are making me lose interest in it, or at the very least, not love it like I used to. At this point I dont have a lot of hope of them being resolved - I guess I just have to accept that Aelin and Rowan are now the main characters - but I'm still looking forward to seeing where the plot goes from here. I have given it a pretty good rating despite its many flaws but that might just be because I find it hard to give lower ratings to series that I once loved a lot.