I would like to give this more stars just for Adrian. Since VA, he's been my favorite character, but I can't. It's a combination of things, really, but it's mostly Sydney. 
 I haven't been a fan of hers since book one. She's just not the type of character I enjoy: very dry, very robotic, and her prejudices really made me dislike her. I will give her props for beginning to change in this book. She's starting to question the rigid way in which she was raised, and toward the end, she did start to acknowledge her feelings for Adrian--which I'm absolutely thrilled with. However, none of that negates the fact that she is possibly the dullest character I've ever read. 
 I understand that her cold logic and reasoning is important to her job, but it makes her thoughts tedious for me to read. Like I said earlier, she's just not the type of character that I enjoy reading. I need a more lively personality, I guess. 
 The alchemist story is also not very interesting to me, I'm afraid. I'm much more intrigued by what's going on in the Moroi community, surrounding Sydney's assignment with Jill. Unfortunately, these books are not about Jill, but Sydney. 
 Sigh. 
 If I could have chosen, I would have wished these books were told in Adrian's POV. It would have been fascinating to be inside the mind of a spirit user--especially Adrian, since he's already half crazy. 
 Alas, this is the story and narrator we're getting. I can only hope that Sydney continues on the path to opening herself up that she started in The Indigo Spell. I need to keep reading because I'm desperate for Adrian's HEA. He's the reason I'm here, so I do hope this series ends with him getting it.