Not what I expected - 2.5 stars Most of my reading time with this book was spent being annoyed at the main characters. There were even a few instances of me wanting to fling the book across the room. Don’t get me wrong – it’s not a bad book. It just drove me crazy.Words can not express my frustration and hatred for one of the main characters. Here’s a hint: he is the despised furry one – Kiyo. Why, Eugenie, Why? After the end of the last book, there would have been no way that I would buy a relationship between Eugenie and Kiyo. Why, Eugenie, why? You were so happy with Dorian. I was happy with Dorian.I started scratching my head when Dorian suggested that Eugenie go on a quest for the Iron Crown with Kiyo. Yes, I understand that Kiyo was immune to iron, but still, the beast was your girlfriend’s ex. Weird, no? The quest was a little boring in my opinion, not too memorable and a little too quick. A few scary snakes, some fire, and there it was. It seemed to me that Eugenie spent most of the book getting played by all the main characters. That has to be the reasonable explanation, right? Those gentry are tricky at the best of times, so why wouldn’t Eugenie be more aware of the jockeying for position? I found that Eugenie spent far too much time “commuting” between the two worlds. In a way, her absence was responsible for much of her problems. There were a few characters that I did enjoy. Jasmine, who has always been a little bit of a wild card, surprised me with her newly found maturity and support for her big sister. What a difference from the last book. I’ve always enjoyed Tim and Lara’s adversarial phone message relationship. They were very cute together. Volusian remains my all time favorite character in the series. I love how he is loyal to Eugenie even though he would turn around and kill her at his first opportunity for freedom. This book felt like a filler book. It is the book where I decided that I despise Kiyo more than any other character. I am still curious as to where the next book will go. There is still a prophecy to worry about, so I guess I will read the next book in the series.
