I wanted to give this book a better rating, because although Marr has done it once again, I'm beginning to get annoyed. There's a trend here I'm growing to strongly dislike. I've come to realize that within each of these novels is a ridiculous, nonsensical romance and some of the novels are even built upon them, like Radiant Shadows. 
 There's no way that a faerie who's centuries old (or older) would ever love a silly child of around eighteen years old! Are you serious? I'm finding that this is the fatal flaw in Marr's work that's also common place in other faerie and vampire novels. If you're not seeing it yet, let me point it out more clearly: 
 Whatever age you are, look at an age group ten or more years younger than you. What do you feel about this age group's mentality and intellect? Do you feel that they have a lot to learn, that they are still "babies"? Probably. Now imagine that you're over 200 years old. You've seen it all, nothing shocks you. Can you even picture yourself falling for an eighteen year old for anything other than her body? 
 I'm not saying that age gaps render love impossible, however the types of hard, standoffish characters that Marr creates are so unimpressed by everyone, I find it completely unlikely that any of them would ever fall for a teenage mortal. Not to mention fall so head over heels that they break their lifelong codes and ideals to be with said youngster. 
 Because of the above, it was really hard for me to appreciate this novel. I was repeatedly reminded of the main character's immaturity and blown away time and time again that the secondary character could feel anything other than annoyance toward her. Overall this is not the best addition to the series even when this huge character mismatch is overlooked. Marr, I'm tired of this. Can we get back to the main story?