After Rose's secret Guardian boyfriend, Dimitri Belikov, gets turned into an evil Strigoi at the end of the last book, she's determined to carry out on the promise she made to him - if he ever turned Strigoi, she'd stake him. Without knowing where in the world he is it seems to Rose that the obvious place to start looking is in his native part of the world. Starting in Russia and making her way to Romania, Rose comes across a number of colour characters including an Alchemyst named Sydney, a handful of Strigoi, teenage vampire hunters and a Moroi gangster nicknamed Zmay. 
 I loved getting to see more of the world that Mead has created outside of the walls of St. Vladimir's Academy. The people Rose meets on her journey are entertaining and I enjoyed finding out more about the Shadow Kissed, Spirit users and the bond that exists between them. 
 The bond that Lissa and Rose share was a great way to be able to have a first person story exist on two different continents at the same time but it just felt a little too convenient. Rose looks in every now and it always seemed to be just when something important was happening in Lissa's life - without Rose feeling anything thought the bond but just because she felt it was about time to check in. 
 This book is fantastic in terms of getting to know more about Dimitri - his background, his family, and his life now as a Strigoi. I feel like after reading this book I know so much more about him and I like him so much more as a person to see his flaws rather than the mostly perfect being that Rose has considered him to be in the past. 
 There's a lot that happens in this book and a lot of secrets/mysteries revealed that I'm sure are pertinent for the final two books in the series. I enjoyed reading it but there were a few things that just took me out of the story and stopped me from enjoying it as much as I have the previous books in the series.