This book had several strengths going for it, including the complex and really tragic relationship between Logan and Kylar, the friendship of the magical trio (there was one reunion that I really really enjoyed), Kylar and his mentors including the ka'kari and Vi and Ariel. The world-building was also at its best with so many different lands explored at once, and the ancient back-story was actually intriguing. 
 But the same world-building that added a new depth to Night Angel also damaged it greatly. Night Angel feels out of place as some Tolkien-esque battle between so many forces and the end clearly showed this strain. While certain pieces came together nicely, it also came across as a series of conveniences, with characters gaining abilities or insights they had never before shown themselves to have. Kylar and Elene suffered from this especially. The convenience wore on me and made the last chunk of the book difficult to believe and get through. 
 Also hurting this book was the romance. The compelling relationship between Vi and Kylar established in the second book is reduced to more mooning and triangle angst in this one. I am relieved that Vi was still given a chance to stand on her own and find her own place, but I could have done without this rather warped version of love. I have said before I don't like the way this series portrays women and I will say it again. It manages to both show them as strong but at the same time pathetically subservient to their man. How a woman manages to be subservient while holding a compulsion spell over her man you may ask? And I will say when that woman has to give up everything for the man's happiness... Yeah. Not to mention, the horrific treatment of women in Dorian's arc. I refuse to believe that a place cannot be shown to be really wicked and twisted without resorting to rape and other forms of women torture. Even in a story where a man gets tortured to death and only dies when his limbs are shattered, women still get the short end of the stick. It's at a point where I don't even think Weeks realizes the way it comes across. I am sure he intends to portray strong but emotional women, and it's just not working. 
 I give the book a 3 because I really enjoyed the first half, with the political intrigue, but once the story became more about the final battle, it became a real bore. Another problem is the lack of focus, with the series trying to cover the plots of so many characters at once. I honestly would have preferred to just focus on Logan, Kylar and Vi. They had the best plots. While the others were interesting, they were not essential and they often cut into the action with the other three. Also, while I get where the book was going with Dorian's plot, I thought it was entirely too forced and done for the sake of being dramatic, a flaw shared by the final section of the book. I contend the book is best when it is focused on Kylar's struggle to make Logan king. The darkness and emotional assault the book goes into in this part definitely makes it one of my favorite sections in any book. The part alone deserves a total five. 
 Overall, I am glad I read this series. I enjoyed the characters, but I am also grateful that I will no longer have to sit through passages of heinous treatment toward women. I also wish Night Angel had given me more Logan in this final book. I felt terribly deprived.