If I think critically about this I'd be more inclined to give this 4 stars but there's just so many aspects about this series I love. I love Jude and how really 3-dimensional she is. I love the relationship with Madoc. I love the relationship with Cardan. The monstrous, the hate, the undeniable love. I finally have more appreciation in Cardan, the kind that everyone else seems to have that I didn't have after the first book, because of the insight into him we get more of. For a YA series this is consistently impressing me with the way it holds up to the intricacies and themes of adult fantasies - it's not as deep or complex the way adult fantasies delve but it feels miles ahead of what I usually expect of the genre and makes it feel more elevated. I'm continually impressed that being in first person narrative doesn't detract from the story either, it manages to balance it perfectly whereas usually I have gripes with 1st person pov. That ending was of course prime angst material but I'm still so MAD so of course I'm jumping into the last book literally as soon as I hit post on this.