I couldn't decide if I wanted to give these two or three stars. I went with two because even though I realllllly wanted to like this book, it was just okay. Here's why: I know that I read all 500+ pages of it, but I finished it with a feeling that nothing had actually happened the entire book. It was very much a "filler" book, just getting you from the end of book two to whatever's going to happen in book four. Basically this book was an excuse to get Mare and Cal back on good terms only to cause more drama by having them be against each other at the end. And even though I knew their happiness was not going to last (they never even tried to discuss all their issues from the last book), Mare's reasoning at the end does not make sense to me. (view spoiler)[She doesn't want Cal to be king. Why?? What exactly does she want to happen to her country? Cal kind of tries to ask her to marry him ("Choose me.") and let her be queen--isn't that the solution to all their problems? Doesn't Mare want to unite the Silvers and Reds? Wouldn't having a Silver king and a Red queen be a good solution?? I'm so confused by what Mare, or even the Scarlet Guard, wants from this big war, though with the Scarlet Guard, apparently they want all the Silvers to die? That was the impression I got. (hide spoiler)] 
 I thought this book was going to go one direction (view spoiler)[killing Maven by the end and introducing another big struggle, either with Montfort/Command or the remaining powerful Silvers, setting up a final reckoning for the fourth book (hide spoiler)]. Instead, it didn't take any direction. And it was boring as a result. Also, I don't even want to get into the purpose of Cameron's and Evangeline's viewpoint chapters (hint: none). Needless to say, I was disappointed in this book.