I have mixed feelings about this book and therefore gave it a mixed review. But I believe there is hope for the rest of the series. Bad news first...I could have done without the first 200 pages which were pretty boring. And, as others have said the relationship between Xaden and Violet is way over the top. If you're going to include smut, at least write good smut. So I skipped most of those pages. I also agreed with others that there are too many characters to keep straight and the writing is disjointed. I seriously need an excel spreadsheet.
However, there's also good news! Once I got to the part about Deverelli, I felt like "Rebecca is back!" If the book could have basically started there, you had me enthralled til the end. Loved the isles and the emotional bits about Xaden's mom and Andarna's irids! The ending was also disjointed and confusing but very exciting.
I'm glad Rebecca is getting a break here soon because two books in one year is clearly too much (it would be for most). I hope that she will remember that less is more, nobody cares about the slow bits, and the "I want you, I need you, oh baby oh baby" is tired. I hope she also remembers that she was on the right path with the first two books and channels that part of her craft. You can bring the magic back, Rebecca!