Wheww wow that took legit forever to finish cause why was that so long! I liked that we jumped back into the action but sometimes I had the opposite problem from FW where there it took forever to get things going but here every chapter was some new twist and like “big event” happening that it felt too stuffed. Like I feel that some of the reveals could have been parsed out over the other books and so it wouldn’t have to be so much. But at the end of the day was I entertained? Hell yeah I had a blast especially now that I was familiar with the lore and characters. I loved the andarna and Xaden reveals (especially the end one??? WTF?!?!) and violet’s growth felt more fleshed out and less “chosen one” which I appreciated. I wish we got more with her actual squad/friendships beyond Xaden bc he rly just took her everywhere she really because one of those “my life is centric to my boyfriend” like EW!! Especially when violet herself didn’t want to be that girl 
Also I feel like for all that happened we got absolutely zero development from characters other than violet and Xaden like sure they aren’t as “important” but I would say ppl like Rhi or Ridoc or Mira or even the fliers are still worth getting into their own lives? We got really nice stuff in book 1 and I wish they weren’t tossed to the side to show how perfect Xaden is (which duh yeah he is but like I don’t need it whacked over my head 5000 times about how powerful they both are) anyways I’m obviously gonna read the next book when it’s out and I’m gonna still be an IF defender cause I may have been overwhelmed but I sure as hell wasn’t bored.