Wow! This was just awesome.
I have been a fan of Royce and Hadrian from the very first book but I have to admit that I just became a fan of Arista even more now. Her character had developed and matured so much in these 6 books. From being a naïve princess to becoming the most powerful human magic user in a long time. She became the true successor of Esrahaddon. I can't gush about her enough. Her emotional moment with Alric and her parents at the end made me shed a few tears.

The revelation about the true heir wasn't a surprise for me because I knew his identity from the second book but the revelation was nicely done. The identity of the Patriarch and the main reason for the conspiracy against the Emperor and his heirs was so shocking for me. I was stumped for a few minutes and reread that part just to be sure that I read it correctly.

Myron was awesome as always. He saved and changed both Royce and Magnus with nothing but a few words.

The plot was awesome and now I just want to read the Legend of First Empire series to know to truth behind all these myths and history we discovered in this installment.

P.S. - I would recommend listening to the Graphic Audio production of this series. It was a phenomenal experience.