I loved this book but not as much as the first three. </ where is this war the nymphs declared in the last book? That hasn’t even been mentioned > things definitely got dark in this one and it really added to the story and there are now so many questions I have since finishing this book which I hope will be answered in the fifth one. The reason why I rated it a 4 star and say it’s my least favorite so far is because I feel like it’s lacking action and there’s a lot that seems to be focused around sex or breaking the Vegas and okay I get the sex part but, I feel like we are past the heirs breaking the Vegas. I know they aren’t exactly friends but this back and forth stuff is just getting old in this book. The writing is good, story is great, kept me on edge, still loved it and am ready for book 5.  

The moment I started reading these books, I knew they weren't 'good'. I'm a sucker for a 'bad' book that's really enjoyable regardless. So the writing really lacks, to the point where there are odd exchanges of dialogue which slip out of character a lot for me, eg. Orion suddenly making exclamations and bouncing on his heels. Orion. Eternally serious, stoic and sexy, Orion. But having read the first 3 I knew this, and this book doesn't really pick up in that respect, along with odd typos and inconsistency in the magic system etc. Also in order to drill into us the characters, they get incredibly repetitive (Seth likes to touch people WE GET IT). I find myself jarring out of the story to edit the text, half the book could be cut out with the amount of unnecessary repetitions of tedious description. So I mostly skim read all of that now, it's just not needed.

Tory and Daruis are the most infuriating characters simply because I don't feel like their motives match up to their actions. Tory being an ice queen bitch and Darius bullying her just doesn't carry enough for me, like they could both realistically stop doing both of those things and then boom no more strife? Tory acts like Darius destroyed her life and I don't reaaaallly get that? In the grand scheme of things? With everything everyone's ever done to you your souly blaming THIS guy? I get what they were trying to do, but if you're that low and offered a way out of if you'd jump on it, no? You grow up with no love apart from your sister and the ACTUAL STARS give you a love forever and you say 'na can't trust him' ?? it doesn't make sense for me but, whatever you go with it.

We love Geraldine, a queen in her own right. In fact, so many of the side characters I feel are written way more consistently than the actual main characters (Sofia, Tyler, etc). 
I think myself, along with so many other readers actually prefer Darcy because she's far more well rounded than Tory, feeling a whole spectrum of emotions as apposed to just rage, which makes Darcy more engaging in my opinion.

The whole soulmate thing is also so confusing, why would Darius be Tory's mate but Orion isn't Darcy's? Why would your mate for life try (repeatedly) to kill you? That struggle is so confusing to me and seems like an odd way for the writers to create conflict in that. Surely the conflict based on the fact theyre Heirs is more true to the characters and not just ragingly hating each other. I DIGRESS.

 I actually eye roll when I see a Tory chapter, because its just her moaning for 5 pages (a bit like this review). I do love her sexual empowerment, and all the feminist vibes it tries to give us with Tory, however it just ends up falling a bit flat for me because it's giving self destruct vibes instead. Just wanna shake her and tell her to get a grip, really. 
Could have done without Max's chapters too, couldn't care less about him or his disheveled mohawk. But we march on.
It would have been a 3, but that 0.75 is for the fact that even with all of these things, I'm still gonna read the next one, and probably the one after that. And credit where credit us due for reeling me in. Mostly just want a Darcy book so I'm holding out for that.

The books just keep getting better and better. My absolute new favorite series. 

ugh the FEELS !!! ok well someone in a review somewhere totally spoilt one of the big twists for me, so DON'T read thru too many like I did lol. Definitely took the surprise out and colored my reading experience differently than I expect other readers'. 
That being said, this book has it all. Great laughs (Geraldine & Tyler, gotta love 'em), forbidden romance (Blue & Lance, see more Darius & Tory action), more mysterious clues, and now we start to explore more of the Shadow realm and its magic. 
A lot of readers seem to dislike Tory in this one - to be fair, she is VERY stubborn, but I can see where she's coming from. Plus, you can't expect to write characters who don't have flaws and figure everything out and make all the right decisions, what kind of series will you have? Nothing it'll be three pages and done. Conflict, conflict, conflict!!
Can we talk about how much I fell in love with Darcy & Orion? Like.. student-teacher, older man issues aside LOL but really their love feels so pure and beautiful... ugh it hurts.
I do have many questions (I wanted more info from the Palace!!!) and the ending is the BIGGEST, WORST cliffhanger YET of the series so you know what that means... Gotta start #5 as soon as I finished writing this review.