*** Warning: This review contains spoilers! ***
The exciting titular event depicted in the cover illustration happens about halfway through the book. After that, I was sort of left wondering, "Okay... Now what?" Rest assured the last third of the book picks up quite a bit, with a number of satisyfing revelations!
Overall, I just didn't feel like this book was tight enough. There wasn't a defining climactic event, and the story didn't have a good flow. There was the assignment with Fitz, and then the adventure with Keefe, then one shocking plot twist, and then another. It was kind of just all over the place.
I was also bothered by a lack of character development between Sophie and her friends. Dex is the only friend who I feel has "earned" his place as "a good friend of Sophie's who wants to help her by going where she goes." Sophie and Fitz shared the trust exercises from their Telepathy classes, but that didn't feel like an authentic bond of friendship. Keefe is by far the most developed character on his own, but even though Sophie and Keefe share the Silveny bond, she never seems to warm up to him as a friend unless she's faced with his vulnerable side, which makes it seem like Keefe just likes to be around Sophie because exciting things happen when she's around. Sophie and Biana's friendship is the most baseless of all. They don't have much in common except playing base quest with Fitz and Keefe, a pretty convenient way for each girl to spend time with her crush (Fitz for Sophie, Keefe for Biana). It's like Biana just wants to join in because otherwise she'd be left out, and also she wants to be where Keefe is. I don't know if I'm being too harsh, but all I know is that when Hermione and Ron volunteered to leave school and run off with Harry to hunt horcruxes, it was pretty believable because of the strong friendship shared by all three. When Keefe, Fitz, and Biana all volunteer to run off with Sophie, I saw it as a plot device, not really genuine.
Still, the Council versus the Black Swan versus Neverseen and ogres makes for a pretty exciting set-up, and now that we know who some of the Neverseen players are, it'll be fun to see where the story goes next.
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