stuff happened the last twenty percent of the book, but I can't speak for the rest. ( )

Cress has gone so dark now and I love it. Looks like they are heading to war in Ember Queen (book #3) and I am hoping that Theo and her rag tag group of "soldiers" are able to take Cress down and Theo actually starts using her abilities. Glad to see the Kaiser got what was coming to him, that was epic. ( )

After having read the first two books of this trilogy, I believe that Sebastian has fallen victim to the YA trilogy trend and is trying to drag a really great book out into three mediocre volumes. (I reserve the right to change my mind after I read volume 3 of course). Very very little actually happens in this book despite it being almost 500 pages. There are scenes after scenes of Theo meeting with potential marriage partners, many of whom will never be seen again. Now, if those scenes are funny or character building or even just beautifully written, I might be willing to overlook how they don't move the plot forward at all. But they honestly aren't. Theo continues to be a whiny, insecure child the entire book who thinks she is so "smart" because she is manipulating someone only to find out she's the one being manipulated.

That said, I do think there's an interesting story in here, I just wish we could get to it a lot faster! ( )

The book started off slow. It concentrated on Theo is trying to summon support to free her people and help to defeat her enemies. However, the ending is very good and I like it alot and want to continue the story. ( )

This was such a disappointment. Where the first book was concise and zipped through the plot (guessing due to good editing), this book was so slow and dragged on through meaningless plot turns that you knew would go nowhere. Probably most importantly, Theo, the main character, is not likable. She uses love as manipulation; she's passive aggressive, and generally she comes across as a mean girl. Unfortunately Soren and Blaise were two-dimensional and barely showed up in this book. ( )