What I will say is that this novel took a dark turn, a very dark turn. 
 I liked how there were multiple plot lines going on in this novel with Rothen still at the college and Dannyl now an ambassador. We got to see more of the country and learn more about each part which I really enjoyed. 
 We started to see Sonea develop as a person too which was really interesting. After her change of rooms she matured as a person and dealt with Reign and his cronies for the most part. I'm loathe to mention to much about what actually happens in this novel for fear of giving away anything. 
 Akkarin also featured a lot more in this instalment, I'd been wanting to know more about him from the start. 
 I felt this overcame the second book slump very well. It didn't feel like a filler book, just natural progression. 
 More reviews over on an0velidea.blogspot.com