Into The Fire (Night Prince, #4)

by Jeaniene Frost

[Berls]

I have not done a good job keeping up with reviews for these four books... but if I had you would know that I came to this spin off series SO EXCITED. I fell in love with Vlad in the Cat and Bones series and could not wait to get to know him better. And then, meh. It wasn't until book 3 that I finally felt like we got to see Vlad and Leila in a positive relationship with us getting more insight into Vlad. I was really hoping to see more of that in this book.

I did. And I didn't. In terms of Leila and Vlad, it was an improvement on books 1&2, but a little backstepping from book 3. Thankfully this was made up for with some great plot progression and character development for Leila and her sister Gretchen, some really fantastic insights into Ian and Verity, and some dangling interesting pieces that MAYBE we'll see in other books I hope?

Most significantly - and I guess this could technically be a spoiler, so you've been warned - Leila was not kidnapped or rescued in this book! That's right, ya'll! I'm shocked too!

In fact, Leila got to be an aggressor in this book and I really enjoyed seeing her developing her abilities, and to a fair extent thanks to some new insights into her past. Vlad, though, fell back on some old bad habits - namely making unilateral decisions without discussing with those who it impacted for the sake of protecting Leila (even against her wishes). I do love him, but his arrogant impulsive behavior got under my skin!

If you're at all curious about Veritas or Ian -- two characters I'm immensely interested in - this book will pique your curiosity even more. I'm so excited to read their books next month for the readalong. In addition to lingering questions about Ian and Veritas (which I expect will be answered), I was left with some questions about Leila's sister Gretchen. She's always been a bit of a comic relief, but I've also found her interesting and with potential... so I do find myself wondering if we'll see any of her in Ian's books or maybe a spin off still to come?

I listened to this book as I did all of the Vlad books. I'm not a fan of Tavia Gilbert's narration, but for these books it is tolerable. She does deliver a pretty good voice for Vlad and I was okay with her voice for Ian as well. Thankfully Bones didn't make an appearance in this book, which is where things tend to get really rough for me. I also find her delivery of intimate scenes too breathy -- it makes it a little awkward to listen to and I tend to find myself laughing or fast forwarding. Her voices for female characters - as long as they don't have an accent - is good though. I think she actually delivers a really good voice for Gretchen. So, tolerable at 2x speed, but not adding anything to the reading. You may enjoy it more in print (if that doesn't slow you down too much as it does me).