I was fully expecting this book to suffer from the usual ‘middle-book-blues’, where the middle book seems to just be filler while we wait for the final conclusion. But this book was no disappointment, building on the story perfectly and setting up intriguingly for the concluding book.

I did think towards the start of the book that Lia was going to turn into a pathetic mopey girl, but she quickly amped it back up to being kick-ass, just how I like her. Nothing worse than a wet blanket for a female lead (I’m looking at you Bella Swan).

The aldermaston has asked her to become the new hunter for Muirwood Abbey, and she’s been given a special assignment to safeguard Ellowyn Demont from the Queen Dowager. And even though she feels like she’s lost out on Colvin, she still manages to suck it up and save his life a couple of times. And along with scheming ‘friends’ and a blight that is threatening the entire land, she’s not having an easy time of it.

We find out a lot about the history of Muirwood and Pry-Ree throughout this book, learning along with Lia. When the aldermaston decides that Lia must take the maston test in order to save the abbey, she learns things that she would never otherwise have been able to find out. And this comes in very handy when she must journey to Pry-Ree to find Ellowyn before it’s too late.

Most of the complaints about this book on Goodreads seem to focus on the heavy religious connotations to the book, and the parallels of the medium to different religions and how this can feel preachy. But I honestly didn’t think it felt preachy at all, and I think the journey of discovery that we go on along with Lia was really satisfying.

The book ends on a huge cliffhanger! I absolutely can’t wait to pick up the next book now that we’ve had that massive bombshell dropped on us. I’m really loving this series so far, and I’m sure the final book in the trilogy won’t disappoint.