I was disappointed with this book, and also this series, because of the way things went with the plot and how it ended - and none of it was because of the writing. It was well written, but I felt cheated more than I felt disappointed with how things turned out. It's one thing for things to not end up the way I felt they should have, but another for me to felt strung along and dumped with the end as though everything had hinted to it all along.

The beginning was a rough ride for me because I didn't care much for Fitz's experience as a wolf, but the scenes were really well done and it was good to see more of Nighteyes and how he developed since he first joined the story. I was saddened, though, by the foreshadowing - which was also present in the first book which mentioned that Fitz would never meet his father, Prince Chivalry - because I didn't have those things to hope for and some of the fun was taken away from me (like certain people never knowing he still existed or the truth about him). Things also took a different path than was expected, and though it was a fun journey I still wish it were otherwise.

It was interesting to see Fitz's fall from grace and how he dealt with that in the first half of the story, but again I felt disappointed because it wasn't something he deserved - however my problem with the series isn't this part at all, as that's just a minor disgruntled feeling of my own and not a reflection on the plot.

I didn't much like the characters that he met along the way, either, and that was more because they mostly served just once purpose (save for Starling, although I feel like she could've been cut out without much trouble). The women were often promiscuous and spiteful (especially when rebuked in response to said promiscuity), and aside from making the journey less lonely in between plot points they felt hollow and pointless.

Verity's fate was the worst for me to stomach, even more so than Burrich and Molly's relationship and Fitz's loss of everything he loved as a result of giving his life to his king. Verity's tale cheated me the most, because I invested a lot into liking him and hoping for him and in the end he didn't get his crown, his woman, his life, or his own child. I wanted the best for the proper king and instead he didn't even get a good death but an eternal sleep until he's needed again - all for his people and not entirely deserved by them.

I was almost afraid towards the end of the book that the illegitimate king plot wouldn't finish and that it would end with the Enderlings, so that the problem would continue in the next series, and though it was solved it felt wrong. The pacing towards the end was off and it fell into a landslide of convenient, although somewhat satisfying, ends. Regal's fate was well done especially his death, which earlier was foreshadowed but I ignored as a hopeless feat, but Fitz's end was bad, especially with that child which wasn't his but was kind of unclear about that fact in the prose, and Verity's fate was a disappointment. Things rushed too quickly near the end and felt so out of place that even though it solved things neatly I wished that it had gone differently.

These books (as well as the next series and the first of the following one) were lent to me by someone who thought I would enjoy them, and while I did I preferred to read spoilers online of those next books so as to save myself the trouble of going through that pain again. I will be returning those next books unread because even though the writing of this series was amazing, and with the author being very skilled at what she does, I don't like being cheated out of the promises made throughout the story - especially out of a well deserved ending, even if it's not the best ending that I had hoped for.