I was not entirely convinced it was worth continuing this series after reading Captive Prince and I have to admit I'm a little underwhelmed after finishing Prince's Gambit. I know a lot of people absolutely adore these books, but there's just something missing for me. The world building is definitely intriguing and the concept has a lot of compelling elements, making it the sort of series that will undoubtedly appeal to fans of medieval war stories, royal scandal and dynastic conflict. It is filled with lengthy battle scenes, intricate military strategy and sneaky political manoeuvring between warring high-born families. It is not totally dissimilar to Game of Thrones, but much narrower in scope, lacking in the high fantasy elements, massive ensemble cast and vast number of narrative arcs that sets George R. R. Martin's books apart. On the whole it was just a bit... boring. 
 I think the main reason I struggled with this series is that it feels very emotionless. I never really connected with either of the main characters and there was nothing about their growing relationship that felt remotely romantic or authentic. Honestly, I just did not get it. They felt like blank slates to me, cold and distant and empty and devoid of any feeling. I really never felt even the slightest sense of sexual tension or attraction between the characters, so the more erotic scenes just felt wildly out of place, two people with no romantic connection to each other who just start screwing because why not? Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that there is increasing representation of LGBT relationships in mainstream literature, but this just never felt like a romance story to me. This factor coupled with a fairly slow pace, bogged down by lots of 'important conversations' between equally bland characters, plenty of riding from place to place and detailed descriptions of military life, all of which was clearly setting the stage for the concluding book in the trilogy, meant that I never really cared about the fate of the characters. 
 However, I will persist in the hopes the final book will do something amazing, I'm still just intrigued enough to want to know how this plays out.