I would like to thank Angry Robot & NetGalley for a copy of this e-ARC to review. While I received this ebook for free, that has no impact upon the honesty of my review.

Goodreads Teaser: "Defeated by the Majat forces, Nimos and the other Kaddim Brothers retreat to their secret fortress in the southern mountains. Nimos knows that the Majat's victory is only temporary: during the fight he managed to place a mark on Kara, one of the top-ranked Diamond Majat. His mind magic would now allow him to use this mark to confer her fighting skill to the Kaddim Warriors and turn her loyalties to their side.

The new Majat Guildmaster, Kai, is planning a march against the Kaddim. His key ally, Prince Kyth Dorn, is instrumental in these plans: Kyth's Magic gift can protect the Majat against the Kaddim mind control powers. But Mai and Kyth are having trouble getting over their rivalry for Kara's affections -- even after they realize that this rivalry is the least of their worries, at least for the moment. Something about Kara is not right.. "

As the final book in this trilogy, it still had a fair bit of ground to cover if everything was going to be resolved by the end. I'm happy to say that not only was everything resolved, plenty more happened than I had anticipated. A bunch of it good, but one issue really rubbed me the wrong way. Doubtless others will love the same thing that bogged me, but then that's the joy of reading and immersing yourself into other worlds.

So we return to Kara, Mai, and Kyth as the central figures, but several others played increasingly larger roles, or were introduced as already large characters we'd not yet truly encountered. While Mai and Kyth grew as people, I was rather disappointed in Kara. Granted she was under tremendous strain much of the time, but she was such a pessimist throughout. I don't really remember her as being like that in the prior books. And she tends to get weepy a fair bit. So she went from an ass-kicking warrior to a weepy, but still dangerous woman? Not really my idea of personal growth. Yes she let Mai in when she fell in love, as yes she'd been trained never to love anyone. So she's in love and suddenly a weepy mess that is always only feeling she can truly relax when leaning into Mai??? Yet he too breaks the rules and falls for her. Does he breakdown into a sniveling mess when things get tough? Of course not. In fact his lot just gets harder and harder, and sure he gets snarly and surly sometimes, but he never just bursts out crying. So why is it that Kara does? They have the same training, the same upbringing, are facing many of the same challenges - so why make the formerly ass-kicking female into a sniffling potentially ass-kicking female?

That aside, the changes we see in Kyth in particular are pleasantly surprising. He really comes into his own and finds himself. In short, he grows up. Sure he had lots of help, some outright such as his training from Lady Ayalla, and some more subtle like the support and admiration of the Lady Celana. While he does become increasingly more powerful he also learns when he needs help and to gracefully accept it.

Mai remains much the same. If anything he just grows ever more cocky and confident. As his swagger is backed up by ability his attitude kind of goes unchecked. Thankfully he seems to have enough inner maturity to deal with himself before spiraling out of control. So yeah, as I write this my earlier rant comes back to me from a slightly different angle. Out of this couple why did the author elect to make the male protagonist so much stronger than the female? Physically, mentally, basically in every aspect he's more in control than she is. Even in a matriarchal society, a queendom where the males are the consorts/concubines, a place where Kara is handed all the power simply by being female - and still Mai is the one holding all the power, from beginning to end.

Why did I have to lose almost all my prior respect for Kara? Sorry, it seems I can't stay off the topic, so I guess it annoyed me far more than I consciously knew until actually writing this review. Because I finished the book pretty much satisfied and only mildly annoyed, but in the short course of consolidating my thoughts to review the book my annoyance level only increased. I suppose that can be considered a good sign, because it must mean I was invested in her character enough to find these changes so disturbing. And they are disturbing, not just for the character but for what it says to me about how the author thinks people view women.

Overall I liked the story. With pretty much nonstop action, even in places where there was very little actual action there was still action. Emotional, planning, scheming, dreaming - something was always happening. And as I said before, the characters grew up and into themselves. Sadly there is obviously a large flaw for me. But it may not be so for other readers, and it certainly shouldn't stop you from finishing this series. Or from finding out how it ends! Originally I was going to give this a solid 4 stars, but now I'm down to 3 stars for the possibly unconscious message embedded in this story.
*Sigh* I think I preferred my blissfully unawakened state. ( )