Full review can also be found on: Paein and Ms4Tune's Book Blog 
 Again, this is the rating from the first time I read it, I don't like to change them, but I'm happy with this rating. 
 I think Valek is an incredibly under rated character and that needs to be fixed. He does a lot for Yelena and no one believes so. I also kind of wish Yelena did a bit more for him too. It's something I've noticed in books, since an extra in The Selection series by Kiera Cass paid attention to the male leads' birthday and the female lead didn't and drew my attention to the discrepancy. I like to think she somehow helped him in the plains though, because his situation was pretty dire. 
 In this book we meet Yelena's family! And they're a strange bunch. Her brother Lief makes me think of an elf. I'm pretty sure he's dark haired, but with a name like Lief, I imagine a Legolas type character. ( Film Legolas, I'm yet to meet book Legolas.) But I hope things improve with him, she could do with some support where she is. We also learn a lot about the country Yelena was born in and it's interesting, how their systems and superstitions work. And while the plains people are still a part of their system, they're almost separate. In fact, her clan was separate too, as they live in the trees. 
 To be honest, I'd forgotten how awful Cahil is. I was convinced at the end of it all he simply said "haha, oops, my bad." - that must be something else, cause he's been pretty naughty now! Plus I hated his reaction to the fact there are no beggars in Ixia. It was selfish and he didn't even consider the step forward it clearly was. He's exactly what the Commander is against and it's not even funny. He's a complete idiot. 
 As I've read these all before several times, I have some idea where this is going. Of course, there are two books at the end of all this that I haven't read and I hope I don't loose too much by not re-reading the Glass series, but we'll see.