I was definitely more frustrated with this book than the last one. Vhalla is pretty obtuse. Immediately, I’m like this is ridiculous. Sareem’s death wasn't her fault. Then Vhalla spends so much time being stupid. Aldrik flat out told her the connection between them and what it means to him and she’s spending so much being all confused by obvious things. And I don’t even mean the subtext which isn't so obvious but is still clear. I have a feeling he's not going to put her in her place like he did in the last book so I may not enjoy this one as much. And it keeps going with the dreams. I don’t understand why she’s trying so hard to be stupid about obvious things.
And there seems to be more internal ruminating on events and emotions we already know. And the particular tone seems a little stronger with a noticeable amount of odd phrasings and sort of sideways approaches to things.
Finally what I figured out is I liked these characters and this world more when Aldrik is mercurial and strong and mysterious. And when the story is more focused on magic rather than war.