I actually really liked this novel. It's entriely refreshing to read from a point of view which isn't a morally perfect Mary Sue. 
 "Once upon a time, a girl had a father, a prince, a society of friends. Then they betrayed her, so she destroyed them all." 
 I love how the story is told from a morally ambigious boarding on insane character. I love how each of the characters have major flaws. Adelina Amouteru is an intriguing character. She clearly had the capacity for sympathy, but it has been distorted by her fear and hatred of those in power. My one problem with Adelina's characters is that instead of the frst novel having so much foreshadowing in regard to the corruption of Adelina's mind I wish it would have shown the beginning of the process. In this manner it would have made the final position of Adelina at the end of this novel appear alot less forceful. 
 "In the silence, I sit alone on my throne and wait eagerly for all the satisfaction and triumph to hit me. I wait, and wait, and wait. 
 But it doesn't come." 
 That being said what a wonderful way to end the novel. 
 What I love most about this novel is watching the relationship between the two sisters change. You can see the limits on love start to appear as the bond between the girls becomes strained. This sets the next novel up for a wonderful conflict of morality, conscience, and love. 
 My major problem in the novel was not the introduction of a new love interest because I honestly liked the character. However, I felt that the author wasted time exploring this when more emphasis and development could have been placed on the bond between the sisters and the conflicting ideologies between Adelina and the young elites. The love interest was presented almost as a shimmer of hope of Adelina as her inner thoughts become increasingly darker and paranoid. Which in any other circumstance I would have liked, but with the conflict between the sisters becoming present, one drunk and craving power and the other who doesn't appear enticed by its appeal. I feel that if the sister was set up as the hope that Adelina could be saved (even if she can't which in all honestly would be a wonderful conclusion as i'm beyond tired of happy endings) then the conflict between the sisters in the next novel which was set up at the end of the rose society would be all the more heartbreaking.