What was really good in this book, without giving away spoilers, was Prince Daniel's faith growth under pressure, the love between Anne and her family and Trask and his father, and Jace learning more about his ryrik heritage in an unlikely place. The treetop city of the cretes was very interesting, too.
The reason I felt this book was mostly a transition was because the previous book had such a powerful redemption story (my favorite of the series so far), and if the heart-stopping ending of Exiles is any indication, I'm expecting book 5 to be full of danger and tremendous obstacles for the heroes to overcome with the rise of the new villain.
