*3 stars for this book* 
 *4 stars for the series as a whole* 
 (So a 4-star rating seems a fair compromise). 
 And so thus ends the saga of Han Alister, gang lord and street rat, and Raisa ana'Marianna, blooded queen of the fells. It was....somewhat lackluster. Definitely the writing in this book was much better than the previous book, but it lacked some of the urgency and a lot of the promise of the first two books. While I enjoyed watching things come to a head in the kingdom, there was no sense of a building climax or of things resolving (even though we do have a climax and resolution. I just don't think it packed the punch it was supposed to. At all). Sure, there were battles and revelations and intrigue all over the place, but....imagine watching a horror movie (or any movie, really), with the sound off, using only subtitles. You see everything that is going on, but nothing really builds up because a key element is missing: the background music. The movie's score helps greatly to convey emotion, heighten tension, foreshadow...all the stuff that keeps you on the edge of your seat with bated breath to know what happens next. That is what this book felt like a lot of the time - like I was watching a beautiful movie, but with the sound off. It was so much less than what it could have been and cemented my thoughts that the last two books have been more filler, really, than anything else. 
 And oh yes! The lack of poetic justice really bothered me in this book. Gavan Bayar did not get the death he deserved, and I was quite put out by that. It was far too easy and peaceful. The less said about that Micah Bayar, the better. No honor in him, that one. He also didn't get the end he deserved: cowardly, weak, spineless, dishonorable, and nothing happens to him. WHY? This is high fantasy! People should get what is coming to them! So yeah, the justice bit also wasn't very well executed. The big reveal, while a major piece of information, carried no shock factor (for me at least. It was like watching footage of the atomic bomb dropping on Hiroshima 40 years after the fact: the grainy soundless image does nothing to convey the horror and gravity of the situation. 
 Even so, I think you really do have to hand it to Ms. Chima. The concept, and (at least) the beginning stages were flawlessly executed. I haven't read such good, vivid, engrossing Young Adult HIGH FANTASY for a long time. Simply beautiful. 
 Another strength of this series has been the characters. Han is quite lovable as our roguish hero, but I think the real star is Raisa. Sure she is quite the Mary-Sue, but she is a likeable Mary-Sue, so she gets a pass. But in her Ms. Chima created a character who proudly accepts and chooses duty. I loved it. Usually you are reading about people who reluctantly take the throne, who don't want to be trapped with riches and court intrigue and only want a happy and secluded life with the man of their dreams. With Raisa we have a girl who started like that, but who ends up deciding that while she would rather have love, she also wanted to do her duty as queen, to fulfill the role she had been born into. And she gets into curt intrigue and learning to outmaneuver people with gusto and joy, instead of reluctance. Fabulousity all around. How can you not like someone like that, even if she is a Mary Sue? In the end, Raisa gets her man and the throne: even more fabulosity. 
 One final thing: I think part of what made this finale lacking was the age of the characters. Raisa and Han are about 18 years at the time these events take place. Eh. Sometimes, it felt like children playing at kingdoms. They acted like silly teenagers, instead of people locked in a power struggle for the soul of a kingdom. Makes it hard to take people like that seriously. Perhaps if they had been older, they would have been more mature and the urgency would have been there. 
 Basically - this book was a sorta fitting end to a series that started out so beautifully. It doesn't quite live up to it's potential, but it is still very much worth coming along for the ride. I will really miss Han, Raisa, and the Fells. 
 ............................... 
 BEFORE READING 
 I don't know what to think of the cover.