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Overall, I liked this book better than any of the others so far. The action was more exciting and I liked that it took place outside of the Sanders home. I think part of the reason I didn't enjoy the first few books as much (part of the reason, because there were a lot of problems with them) was because they were so limited in focus and nearly all the secondary males blended together. By moving the story out of that zone, it also freed up more time to focus on the primary characters. The show-downs were good and I liked the justice that was meted out by various different people...and since I'm a fan of Jace's, I'm glad to see he got more character development and ink.

I do think it's kind of cheating to introduce a new species into the fifth book of a series, however, when there's been no interaction (and only a couple of brief speculative mentions, if I recall correctly) with other paranormal ones. I was okay with the thunderbirds (what a weird animal to pick!), although I did giggle a couple of times at unintentionally funny moments, especially when they were flying away with Faythe. I couldn't help it.

Every time I think I'm starting to like Faythe a little better, however, she does more stupid and hurtful things. She's a little less loud-mouthed and rash than she was in the first 3 books, and I understand what happened in the last one, but...honestly. This situation between her and Marc and Jace is so ridiculous and drawn out. She keeps protesting it's not a good time to tell Marc about what happened while he was kidnapped, but then (view spoiler)[she kisses Jace, but then she has sex with Marc literally 5 minutes later, and then she asks Jace to help her undress and bathes naked in front of him....and she still isn't telling Marc! (hide spoiler)] Jeez! You can't fault someone for not being sure of her feelings, but you can expect that they'll try and respect the other parties as much as possible. Which she didn't.

A lot of people get pissed off by love triangles, but I don't really mind them because I sort of expect that a. the authors want to create romantic conflict and b. it often represents a choice the heroine is making in life as well. So while I get annoyed if the situation drags on interminably or when one option is clearly better than another, I don't get all huffy if I see them in books. But I don't have any respect for woman who doesn't have the guts to make a decision or to mitigate the damage and hurt she knows it will cause.

I'm obviously going to read the last book since I've made it this far, but I'm still really surprised by how much better the author's YA series is. And it's funny how much more mature and rational Kaylee is overall, even though she's so much younger--and a lot less experienced--than Faythe is.