My weird pattern of liking the even numbered books more in this series continues. I was a little worried about Strider since in the last book he seemed to be headed down that BDB rap/frat boy speak path. But that was thankfully mostly absent here and he was just nice and sarcastic. I wasn't worried about Kaia - I love the harpies in this series. And she was funny and strong but with a vulnerable side. We also got to see some Sabin & Gwen who remain one of my favorite couples so that was nice.