I had a really good feeling that this book was going to be epic, and it was. This was a very satisfying ending to a wonderful trilogy. All of these books are so well written, the world is so beautifully built, and the characters are complex. Those are just some of the things that I appreciate. Characters made choices I didn't agree with, but they made sense for that character. Our antagonist was twisted, but at times I could find myself understanding where he was coming from. That doesn't mean I agreed with him, but his motives and actions were all things that I understood based on the information we knew about him. Lia has become one of my favorite protagonists of all time. She was witty, bold, and incredibly caring. I would go into battle with her any day. Kaden now and forever. Pauline was another really fun character to see grow. She was very different from Lia, but both were strong and their friendship was something I greatly admired. I made my peace with Rafe this book. He made choices at the beginning and has done things in the past that have made it a constant back and forth with me and him. I told this to some of my friends, and the song "Hot and Cold" by Katy Perry basically sums up my relationship with Rafe. However, the last half of this book sold me on him. He realized his mistakes and took action to amend them. Learning about Lia's parents was honestly one of my highlights, as was the Royal Scholar. I loved my flawed characters. I only had a couple very (I mean very) minor issues, but nothing that lowered my enjoyment. All in all, this was an emotional read and I LOVED it! :)