** spoiler alert ** 
 I realized that I wrote a review when I read this book but I never posted it because I do not know how good it is, but imma post it anyways because why not. 
 The first thing that I want to talk about is that bastard Reyad. When I read what he did to poor Yelena, my heart hurt. How could a person be so twisted and not have any kind of remorse? I was so glad that she had the courage to kill him, because he so deserved that. And let not talk about those other monsters of Brazell and Mognak, who are also so twisted. When Yelena and Valek made the discovery and found all those people locked in that room, I felt so disgusted and I couldn't help but hate them so much. At least in the end they got what they deserved. 
 But now let's talk about the things that I liked about this book. First, Yelena of course. This girl managed to earn a spot in my list of badass female characters, because of the way she dealt with things and the way her character developed. She was not afraid to fight to survive and when she started to train with Ari and Janco, she proved that even if in the beginning she was weak, she learned to fight really fast. Another thing that I loved was Valek. That damn Security Chief managed to steal my heart throughout this books. I don't know, but he kinda reminded me of the Darkling, the way he was seen as a cold person, but in reality he has such a great heart. 
 At first I wasn't expecting the relationship between him and Yelena, maybe because of the 13 years age gap. But in the end I managed to not think about that gap because their relationship felt so real. They began by being cold to each other and slowly beginning to trust one another and eventually fall in love. Their love feels real and not strained at all. The scene in the prison when she told her about Reyad was so heartbreaking and I felt so much better when they finally kiss and I squealed a little bit. Just a little, 
 I think I started to ship them from the night when Iris and her followers almost killed Yelena, but Valek came to the rescue. Talking about Iris, at first I saw her as a threat, but in the end I kinda started to really like her. I think she will slowly become like a mother figure for Yelena, that somebody besides Valek that she can trust. Also, she will help her to control her powers and help her master the arts of magic. 
 Also, I was not expecting that twist of the Commander being born a female. I was reading that part and I was like: "What just happened. Did I read that right?". I was surprised but that didn't affect my reading experience at all. I was expecting that after Yelena saved his life, he will protect her even though she had magic, and not exile her because of it, but hey, it's better than the imminent death I guess. 
 Before I end this, shoutout to my pals Ari and Janco for being such great characters and amazing friends. Please stay awesome and don't get hurt because it would wound my heart immensely. Thank you.