I am actually kinda disappointed in this book, perhaps mainly because of how good 
 Crown of Midnight 
 was. However, it was by no means a BAD book ... 
 (And ... after those busy couple of weeks I find it hard to remember all of what happened in this book.) 
 One of the things that I do really remember is that 
 we were introduced to four new characters: Aedion, Manon, Rowan and Sorcha. 
 I do not really like any of them that much to be honest, at least in the beginning. 
 To be honest, there does not seem to be much to Aedion except for his almost obsessive love and loyalty to Aelin - who is his cousin - when he realises that she is still alive and close to him. Before that he was okay as you could see that he was just trying the best in the situation that he had been thrown into. However, his character went downhill once he began to focus on his Queen, and I think that it became a bit too much. 
 I also found Manon's chapters to be incredibly boring. I could not connect to her OR her storyline that much at all, especially as it did not seem to have much of an effect on the rest of the plot at that present time. It just did not seem to be adding anything. Everyone seems crazy about her, but it came to the point where I was actively dreading reading her chapters because I would just end up so bored and confused with the mindless brutality and wondering is this really necessary or relevant? 
 Again, everyone seemed to LOVE Rowan but again, I could not see the appeal of his character. He was so horrible to Celaena / Aelin at first, an it was not really necessary. (view spoiler)[The fact that he lost his mate does not really excuse anything that he did to her, especially as it seemed like it was a ridiculously long time ago. How many people had Celaena lost in her, what, 19 (?) years? A lot! And she does not act like this to most people. (hide spoiler)]I did like his character more later on, when he finally got his head out of his ass and was nicer to her, but it was still rude the way he did not apologise for his nasty treatment. However, by the end of the book I COULD see why people liked him, and even though I have no particular love for him myself, I do LIKE him. I wish him and Aelin would STAY FRIENDS and not become 'more'. 
 Sorcha, I also did not feel much for. This was because she was mainly a character that was solely added in to be a love interest to Dorian and to help him with his powers, (view spoiler)[And cause him intense pain upon her death. (hide spoiler)] I do find it a bit annoying that Maas finds the need to have a constant love interest - even a potential love interest - for these characters (in this case, Celaena and Dorian.) It means that this series will probably end with a LOT of forced romances. 
 I wish that Aelin / Celaena would just have stuck to one name, to be honest. I found that rather annoying when reading as different characters called her different things. It would have been much easier if she would have just Picked. A. Damn. Name. There was so much happening in this that all of the drama surrounding her name just felt like an unnecessary thing to add in (especially as I had just got used to spelling Celaena, and now have to get used to Aelin?). 
 My cousin wrote in her review how this book is almost like fanfiction in it's melodrama, and god did I feel it. She'd be sitting there with Rowan after looking at a body or something, and then off her thoughts would be, pining after USELESS bloody Chaol. Almost everything in this book was injected with more drama than it needed, including Chaol's complete and utter dickheaded lack of understanding. It was not really needed! 
 Of what I can remember of the plot, it was alright, but I definitely thought it was dragged out and also dramaticised. There were TOO MANY descriptions of her training with Rowan and story-time in the demi-fae castle. There were also too many scenes of Chaol and Dorian arguing about the same thing and Dorian's scenes with his girlfriend ... Manon being a bitch to her coven and the coven being bitches to each other and them all learning to fly on the Wyverns ... Aedion pining over Celaena / Aelin. All of this, the fact that so much was dragged, just added to the general melodrama. 
 Overall, this book was a disappointment compared to Crown of Midnight. However, it was not terrible, and as it stands I will still continue to read this series.