It is sad that this book could have been so much better. Now that isn't to say I don't like this book. The overall story was good. I was excited to finally read about Hauk and learn more about the mysterious Andarion. I even liked Sumi who was strong yet compassionate. 
 The thing that got me is the story seemed to drag on and every time anything happened we got a huge list of all previous characters, their spouses and their children. There was nothing subtle about it. 
 It was just too over the top. 
 But I enjoyed how the story played out and how Hauk's story has lead us into Fain's story. 
 It is just hard to get over the repetitive lines in the story and the continuing need to tell us how sexy Hauk is. 
 Sometimes I think Kenyon has these in between books that she forces out rather than writes because they just come to her. This felt like a forced book which I find sad because I so looked forward to a good book. 
 (view spoiler)[Admittedly, I did enjoy Hauk finding Sumi's daughter and the little girls reaction to meeting the man who was going to claim her as his daughter. I also enjoyed some of the little girls silly remarks but even those got to be over the top. (hide spoiler)]