4.5 out of 5. 
 You know this is the first time in 7 books that I can't guess 200 pages in advance the whole plot ? yay for me and Mr. Sullivan finally not being on the same page ! 
 Other than that important point, I really liked being back with Royce and Hadrian, they are really a lot of fun and it was nice also to have more glimpses at the first empire. I'm really excited about age of sword and I'm quite certain we have a character in this book that is also in the first empire serie and I really liked that (though wasn't that a huge spoiler ? D:)