Magic's Price is a character driven story. Paired with insightful plot twists and character development, the romance between Vanyel and Stefen is passionately explored. Despite that, the novel fell short of exploring the world of Valdemar and it's powers. Many characters went underutilized and too much focus was put on romance
Lackey marvels at dropping her characters into a whirlwind of chaos, which they never seem to recover from. Instead of learning from the past, they wallow in their romantic escapades that offer sexual tranquility. A love at first sight is sure to have its highlights as their love will blossom in a make-believe world manifested into fictional reality.
As the trilogy comes to a close, the endless emotional theatrics and cliché romantic gestures seem to have been the main plot of the series. Even the final battle that was famed to take place, happened out of the peripheral view. It's only mentioned in passing, but no concrete evidence to suggest that it actually happened at all.
