Alright I will toss a review here though I do not do this often. I will probably do one when I finally finish this damn series. 
 In any case, I think many agree this is one series that simply went on for far too long. This should have been wrapped up some time ago. It is probably one reason that the previous book got only 3 stars from me. I have had to do deal with 12 books of sexist, bullying, braid pulling, foolish sheep herder, foolish boy, etc. for far too long. It was overdone and plain old tiring. I thought it would change in that book but it didn't so I couldn't say I enjoyed it too much though it wasn't bad. 
 Which brings us to this one. What a breath of fresh air. Some of the characters finally seem to grow within themselves and change. It was nice to see the characters take some step forward instead of the constant whining. There also seemed to be some drifting away from the good ol' sexist thoughts and mannerism that I always felt we were getting beat over the head with constantly. It felt, well, like progress finally after so many books of turning the wheel in the same place. I actually finally began to like more characters than just Matt. I won't dive too deeply to avoid spoilers but let's say some backbones were finally grown and some other folks finally put in their place. 
 Truth is, this is an amazing and epic tale on scales many do not touch. I had stepped away from it for years because until recently when I decided it was time to finish it. This book made me glad I did and hopefully the last shall keep that feeling.