4/5 stars. I liked this book. It was a pretty good book. But I have two main complaints: this no longer feels like the same series it started as, and I hate Sarah J Mass's use of adjectives. 
 At about halfway through the novel I thought "this doesn't feel like the same series." A lot of the changes are good- the story's gotten more complex, there are more characters (and I really like most of them!), and Aelin/Caelena has become a much more likable character, whether through plot development or better writing I'm not 100% sure. Probably both. So for me, the changes are good. It's not just a snarky little assassin running around the castle, you get to see Rifthold and other characters and the stakes are higher. 
 But god, Maas needs to quit it with the adjectives. There are at least four characters who can do anything lethally, 'lethal calm,' 'lethal grace,' 'lethal smile,' 'lethal quiet.' This was driving me crazy! It's not just lethal, she just really excessively uses adjectives, and I was noticing at least once per chapter. I considered knocking it down to 3 stars because I was so tired of everything being lethal. 
 The good parts: I love Manon and her Thirteen and they do not disappoint, Lysandra was wonderful, and there were so many things going on, it felt like the plot was complex enough to justify being this long of a book. Exciting things were happening, the characters reacted to pain and trauma in a more realistic way than even last book, and the plot was crazy but I cared! I cared so much more about everything in this book than the previous three. 
 I really enjoyed it.