He fled and withheld information that could compromise national security (bear in mind that Rhen has no idea that it's supposedly Grey who is the heir). Everyone in the book seems to forget that Grey betrayed Rhen. I'd make the case that actually, Grey ISN'T a nice guy at all. Tycho is a sweet lad, can't he have a crack at it? Secondly, why does he deserve the throne? What are his qualifications? Everyone seems to be in agreement that Grey should be king, but why? Because he's a nice guy? Well, if that's the only criteria, then any fella from Hutchins Forge to the Blackrock Plains can stake a claim. I need someone to explain to me why he's the rightful heir? No-one actually attempted to confirm his provenance, and even if he is indeed Rhen's older brother, he's a bastard and therefore has no right to the throne at all, right? I'm not saying that's fair, but if the law works differently here, a sentence from BK would have cleared that up. until it struck me that he doesn't have one. I have loaned the first two books to a friend so I couldn't check back on any plot points to understand what Grey's claim was. This is where I make a case for recaps at the start of a book à la Jay Kristoff's Nevernight Chronicle. We return to Emberfall and Syhl Shallow as the 60-day clock ticks down to when Grey plans to invade Emberfall and claim his rightful place on Emberfall's throne.

I really didn't enjoy AHSFAB but I was so invested in the characters and confident in BK's writing ability that I still managed to look forward to this. I'm so sad that this story became a series when it should have remained a standalone.

Oh, and watching Rhen getting cucked into oblivion made my blood boil. The tl dr is that: Every character in this book is an idiot. Yet, let the record reflect that I loved ACSDAL. What the actual fuck? Did I read the same book as everyone else? Fair warning, this is a super long, ranty and spoilery review.

A vow so bold and deadly series