Ugh, what a way to end it. It's not so much a cliffhanger as the end of a chapter in the middle of a book. And really, this book felt like a novel(la) sandwiched with a pice of a whole 'nother book with some expositionary bits slapped in the middle. Characters also kind of dropped off the face of the Earth--whatever happened to Eddie after the fallout of the great adventure? And Christian was a bit forgotten too, for a time--and really, this book feels like a whole lots of ideas condensed into a single novel, for better or for worse. Not that it's bad or anything--I still enjoyed it immensely. Just much more going on than in the previous novels, I guess. 
 I'm glad we've moved on from teen drama at the Academy to royal drama at the Court. The drama hasn't been nearly as petty as it's been in the past, and I do like that (though this crap at the end kind of shakes that a bit). With certain threats neutralized, the series seems to be forgoing the dark aura it had built in order to spin the story into something everyone can get a happy ending from, which is nice. It's more than I expected going into this novel, to be honest. Still, everything is now hinged more on mystery and setups rather than Rose's skills or Lissa's powers, which I have mixed feelings about. But hey, it's gotta end somehow. I'm looking forward to the conclusion.