I got slightly annoyed at this book. I can tell that Blaire tried desperately to make things more steady with the plot with the ending where Keera is stranded in Silstra, but this book suffered! The romance was off and the plot twist with

Riven/Killian

felt thrown in. It didn't feel authentic and neither did the romance with Keera and

Riven/Killian

. At times, it felt as tho Riven was supposed to be the what if of what if Rhysand had actually been feminist and not disgusting and somewhat disgusting, but the thing about Rhysand that actually makes him a bad character/love interest is his lack of personality and Riven suffers just the same as Rhysand did in ACOTAR. Now, I am not saying that Halfling Saga is just an off brand ACOTAR, no, this series is far better than what SJM will ever hope to write, but Riven is Rhysand. And that annoyed me. From the purple eyes, sad past with bad parents, to the way he even acts body wise. I got so annoyed with it and I cannot say this enough, but I am tired of romantacy authors making every single book of theirs have some corolation with SJM books. I do understand that SJM as an author did bring some light to the genre, but I am getting exhausted of seeing nothing authentic in its own right. Halfling Saga does have its quirks and when those are brought to light, I do enjoy them! I love the study of language in these books or the talk of mental disorders, addiction, colonization. I think I just want more from this series than what it is willing to offer. I just want a different type of romance. I want grit, dirt in its nails, blood on its lip, but it still has a certain flavor to it that leaves something stale in my mouth. Maybe more POVs? Idfk.

The plot twist with Riven actually being Killian and Killian actually being Riven made me angry. I get that we are not supposed to have any hinting of any sort in throughout the series that they are actually the same, but Killian had actually been someone and I guess Riven had been too, but I liked Killian a bit too much for him to be Riven and Riven to be him. Ugh. Are we also not gonna talk about how that means that Riven is bi or pan as well if he's Killian because there was some romance between him and Collin before Collin died.