When I started this book I was intrigued because I thought Yelena was going to fall in love with the Commander or "his son". The poison testing was intriguing but I kind of saw the twist coming from early on. 
 Valek and Yelena, honestly, I don't think I was shipping these two until the very end and now I can't not ship them together. I kind of thought that Yelena would be with Rand or Ari actually. Rand was quickly dismissed as Yelena was asked about him and wasn't interested. 
 The story or plot, the plot was actually really fast paced I just think I wasn't totally immersed in it. You have magic and fighting and the ending leaves you with enough to warrant a sequel with apparently there are (Six?) books in this series. 
 I think I would continue to read this because of Valek and Yelena but I could also lose interest and pass the rest of the series up. Not sure yet.