I read this book in a day. Literally, a day. Adrien was always my favorite in the VA series (even though I was all about Rose and Dimitri working out) and I was super excited when Bloodlines came out and he was a main character. While this book kicked up the drama and the stress level, it did a good job of answering questions about the Alchemists, as well as how things are going in the Moroi court. I think that Mead has been doing a very good job combining these worlds, and keeping us up to date on the characters we grew to care about in the Vampire Academy novels. The one thing that I did NOT see coming, at least not in a book that wasn't the final installment, was Adrian and Sydney's wedding. I thought that was very sweet, very touching. I loved it. It made all the angst throughout the Bloodlines series worth it.