skygiants

Indeed, the offense I have offered is grave. I humbly beseech that you punish me as you see fit.

(True! And The House War did get upgraded to hardcover! [which made me way too happy]) Ooh, I remember that scene! It was awesome. As the series goes on, I really feel you have to grudgingly and then less grudgingly respect Alesso more and more.
Valedan and Alina have kind of become one of the "great partnerships I adore." (I will not even discuss general spoilers, I will not even discuss general spoilers...)

I...actually still need to read the Hunter's books. I do know she is a major character in them. I think they cover the demons attacking Averalaan about 15 years before The Sun Sword, but I'm not sure. In any case, I think the first part of The House War is set before those too. At least The Hidden City was, maybe the second one won't be.
(Corinna from The Folk Keeper, by Franny Billingsley. Which was weird at first, on the surface they're pretty different, but two things about them are really similar. They both base a large part of how they define themselves on how they're different from "ordinary humans." And they're both very concerned with power. ...Though in different ways. Kiriel's all, "I will kill you, therefore demonstrating my power!" Corinna's more, "I will secretly destroy that which you take most pride in, therefore demonstrating your lack of power!")