To me, this is lazy writing on Rutoski's part. Kestrel and Arin have enough drama on their own. It was a plot device to make it harder for Kestrel and Arin to be together. When they defiantly didn't need it,they already had major issues like: communication, trust, and a hundred other things.Because of this trope, no new events happened in the first half of the book because Kestrel was trying to get her memory back. As a reader, I was annoyed because the things that she was discovering/remembering we(the reader)already knew. The Kestrel that I loved in the first book was gone. It would have been more of an exciting read if the slave camp didn't cause her amnesia and it hardened her instead of making her vulnerable.

2. Anti-Climatic

As a whole the book was boring. Their several scene jumps within a chapter. it was a lot of walking, and glossed over war/fight scenes. The slave camp rescue was vague and could have used more description. And Kestrel's showdowns with her Father and Emperor was Anti-climatic.

A small annoyance was the writing. In moments it flowed like poetry, but at some points it was bit dramatic and too much.