Cal’s forces go on the offensive as Maven’s allies conspire against him, supported by different nations, including a democracy that offers tantalizing freedom.

As a conclusion, the story worked, but could have been condensed considerably. The author’s flowery language enlarges scenes way beyond what is comfortable, making the story seem to drag on a long time. The romance scenes were completely lost on me, as I found the return of the teenaged angst too much to bear (was it really gone from the last book, or was I in a more tolerant mood?). Most of the book was focused on Mare pining for Cal, with a little scheming in the background. I liked Iris, as she gave another dimension to the story. I didn’t get much from Cal and Maven’s points of view. The battle for the fort was well executed, something this author seems to do a good job with, though it seemed like I blinked and missed the final climactic fight. The ending wasn’t what I had expected, but it became more and more obvious when I was quickly running out of pages. I found the series in all to be reasonably good, but not something I was drawn to after each book. It had a lot of good moments, though, so I’m glad to have completed it.

I don’t know if this novel is any different from the previous one, but it felt like it. The first third of the book is Mare being mad at Cal, but she’s also conflicted because she still loves him. It may be realistic, but it’s not interesting to read about for hundreds of pages. She seeks to punish him, and he hurts, because he clearly still loves her, but he can’t give up his crown, even for her.

They leave Corvium in ruins, because they know they can’t hold it, and it’s too strategic to leave intact. While Mare wants to walk away, she can’t leave the fight. She transfers her family to Montfort, where Cal is given a tour of what could be when reds and silvers live together peacefully- the prime minister is even married to a man, something that appeals to Evangeline, who is in love with Elaine. To Mare, Cal and Evangeline, democracy seems like it shouldn’t work, but they see that it does, and wonder what’s the catch.

Montfort pledges troops to help Norta, but before the vote is completed, the mountains come under attack by silvers who don’t like being equal to reds. It’s a distraction, though, as Iris (Maven’s wife) has infiltrated the city in search of the children of the king of Piedmont, being held hostage to ensure his neutrality in the war against Maven. Mare and Cal jump at the chance to help Montfort against the raiders, but are injured as the trap is sprung. They are saved by the fact that it is a distraction, and by a herd of bison of all things, and that they have stronger mutants.

In a previous review, I likened this to X-Men, and the new abilities push society deeper into that realm. We’ve gone beyond the ordered silver categories, as new abilities are manifesting in reds, and they seem to be random, just like in those comics. Be that as it may, the author does a good job at showing people of different strengths, and how they can be used in battle.

Back in Norta, they decide that they must take a symbolic target, but Maven knows this, too, and he’s a much better strategist than Cal. The attack takes place in two parts, with Mare infiltrating the Tech Towns, and Evangeline and her brother going on the offensive at the Fort. Mare and Kilorn are successful, because their strategy takes everyone by surprise, but Kilorn is almost killed. Only a nearby healer saves him. At the Fort, Iris waits with her nymphs, ready to turn the water of the island against them. She completely floods the place after they gain a foothold, nearly killing Evangeline and her brother as they sink to in the water, covered in heavy steel.

I still hold to my claim in the last book that the author can write great action battle scenes, and this one is my favorite in this book. It shows the mutant abilities to their extent, and with their limits, both sides almost evenly matched. Cal only wins because the reds have teleporter abilities, where Iris’ silver army does not. The teleporters save Cal, Evangeline and her brother from drowning.

When Mare arrives, she gives in to her desires, and spends the night in Cal’s bed, something Evangeline has been trying to coerce her into all book, trying to ensure that Cal and Evangeline have an open marriage as king and queen, so she can spend her nights with Elaine.

Maven and Cal are predictable at this point, as they both call for the other to meet for a ceasefire and surrender, expecting the other to surrender. When Maven gets angry and can’t see reason, Iris and her mother turn on him and deliver him to Cal’s grandmother and uncle –in a twist of behind-the-scenes maneuvering where they snuck into the capital city and made a deal with Iris. It's frustrating that they were willing to kill anybody else, but they take Maven hostage, instead. The Lakelanders know that peace with Maven can’t last, and with the damage Mare and Cal have done to Norta in their civil war, they want to invade and take over the country, ending the war that’s lasted for generations their way.

Even knowing this, Mare and the Scarlet Guard turn their backs on Cal when he refuses to give up his crown again. They leave for Montfort, taking Maven, while Cal struggles to live with the decisions he made, like giving reds fair wages and ending conscription. With the Tech Towns destroyed, this throws the country into chaos. From this point forward, things get a little muddied, as if there’s a big breath before everything comes tumbling down. Cal is coronated in the capital city, while Mare is distraught again, eventually taking a walk up the mountains where she meets Jon, who can see the future, who tells her that she has to save Cal or the war will never end.

So she convinces the Montfort people yet again, and they take Maven into the city because he knows the tunnels. They arrive to a full-fledged battle as Iris and her mother invade by boat. Cal stops the ships on the river so they never get to disembark. The fight for the city is a stalemate for a long time, even as Mare arrives. This was an exception to the consistently good battles in this series, and it ended with a whimper.

Evangeline finally has enough of her family, who are shown as hardliners who will sacrifice her and her love for power. They are easy enough to dislike, and she finally cuts the cord, taking her brother and their lovers away back to Montfort. Her father is delivered to Iris and is killed. Mare, meanwhile predictably loses Maven, and he escapes. Cal finally understands that he can’t be king, and throws away the crown. How this will work I really don’t know, as Norta doesn’t know anything except inequality. I guess Montfort will help them. But he doesn’t find peace in the end. Mare doesn’t want to stay in Norta, and Cal can’t leave. Iris and the Lakelanders are still out there, but they’ve lost the war, and I’m not sure they have the power to continue with it.

In between these three major action sequences, we get Mare and Cal’s angst, which was hard to take, and Evangeline’s reevaluation of her life, which was probably my favorite of the quiet moments. Iris was interesting, but as a hardliner, she only offered an external perspective, and didn’t change in the end.

The biggest trouble I had with this book was the way the author used such superfluous flowery language that it almost overwhelmed a lot of the story. The action sequences were fine, but quieter moments were so slow because they went on for paragraphs and pages with more expression than was necessary, so much that it was easy to forget what was happening. It did allow character development in many cases, especially for the secondary characters, but I found myself bogged down.

I don’t have a problem with leaving the story open-ended, as there was too much going on to wrap up even in this very long book. In fact, I’m not sure it wrapped anything up, just switching places with Cal in charge and Maven on the run. I hate to say it, but I’m glad it’s over. The series was interesting, but I didn’t get much out of it. There were great moments, but a lot of slow moments, and I’m not a big fan of Mare, which made getting into the story more difficult.