I have no idea how I loved this book so much as a kid. I like Bitterblue as a character, but the story is so slow and far too long for barely anything to happen. There was also much darker content than expected. The last book was carefully to heavily imply things in regards to Leck's crimes, which I really think this book should've done instead of stating it directly. I have no idea how I sat through that as a kid when it's too much for me as an adult. I guess I probably just didn't understand the gravity of it. But yeah, that wasn't a mental picture I needed running through my head. (TW for pedophilia, torture, and suicide: the scene in question is where

Thiel reveals that he and Bitterblue's other advisors were forced by Leck to rape and cut up little girls while he watched. After saying this, Thiel throws himself off a bridge.

So yeah, that was a lot for me and I wish that information had been conveyed a little more discreetly. I think just Thiel saying "Leck made us do those crimes" would've been enough to convey the point without needing to tell me what the crimes were in that moment.) And I will be honest, this one page was enough to drop my rating of the book because it was uncomfortable for me and I don't feel like it was necessary.