Much like the first book, this was great. I really enjoyed it. Dara and Siv took a few steps backwards towards the end but I'm sure the next book will fix that right up. Mostly though, Dara and Siv work really well together to hold the Kingdom together and to help Siv retain his crown. The dueling took a bit of a backstage in this one which I understood but also missed - that was one of my favourite parts of the first book. But I did like how we learnt a bit more about the Fire and Dara's powers. I also missed not seeing more of Sel and Sora but I'm sure the next few books will fix that as well. Siv really grew up and became a much more responsible young adult. That's another thing I really liked about this series, is the age of the characters. I like that they're young and still prone to making mistakes but they're also old enough to be at that stage where they have to be responsible for themselves. It's something I feel isn't addressed in young adult fiction as much. Further to that, I found the struggle Dara has between her own ideas of right and wrong, her feelings for Siv and her feelings for her parents fascinating. It's really hard to realise that your parents are people too and can make mistakes and may do things that you don't agree with or believe in. I'm interested to see where this series goes. On to the next one. ( )