At the start of the year, this was one of my most anticipated reads of 2016. I'd become very invested in the first two books of the trilogy, and I was impatient to find out how it would end. And then I saw some negative reviews, and I got scared. So I put off reading the book for a while. But every time I went upstairs, there it was. Looking at me. Waiting. Calling my name. Eventually, the curiosity became too much, and I cracked it open. 
 I'm so glad I did. 
 It's true that the story in this final book isn't the same as in the first two. The Kiss of Deception was light-hearted for the most part. The second half became more serious, but it was still working on the setup. The Heart of Betrayal was darker, but it was also very limited by its own fixed setting. But the big difference is that both of those books put quite a lot of weight into the romance. The Beauty of Darkness plays with the romance for the first third or so of the book, but then it focuses on Lia's quest to save Morrighan, rid the world of the Komizar, and to improve the lot of the population of Venda. 
 At times I did feel the story was dragging where it could have moved a little faster, and at others I wished more attention had been paid to a certain plot point or another, but overall I was happy with the story as it was. Sometimes I wanted to slap some sense into the characters, and sometimes I wanted to cheer them on for actions that went against what they wanted but were for the good of the many. 
 The ending is understated, but it worked well. Even though I'm sad to be saying goodbye to these characters, I'm happy with the way things ended.