As always I never know where to start with these and it becomes a jumbled mess but here we go:

First, let me say how utterly amazing it felt to be back in the world of Merry and her men after nearly five years. It's funny, a family member bought me the first book when I was like 14, because they thought it sounded like something I would enjoy. Apparently they missed the whole crazy faerie sex part of it. Regardless, I've been reading this series for half of my life, and I'm always amazed at how different it is from everything else.

Admittedly I generally read young adult novels (most recent series was The Mortal Instruments) and although Laurell's books are generally the same length, they take me nearly twice as long to read. It's not a bad thing. They are so involved, so mesmerizing, so wonderfully written that I actually enjoy each and every word. The world that she has created is one that I often envy, and love that with each book we get to see more and more of this world.

As far as this book goes I don't feel like I need to tell you that it was spot on as far as Laurell's usual writing technique and obvious skill. It was beautifully written and did a marvelous job of connecting this new part of the story with the old.

The characters are changing. It was interesting to see how the men reacted to having children. For the most part they behaved as if I thought they would, other than Galen whom I imagined would be terrified. Rhys and Galen have always been my favorites of Merry's men so I was happy to see them continue to grow as characters. The other men are doing just as well, with the exception of Mistral whom I don't think had enough screen time for me to really judge his character at this point.

Queen Andais has probably changed the most of any character in the series and whether it's all real or just an act, I guess we'll have to wait to find out.

There were some unanswered things more toward the end of the book that make me believe that we'll be seeing more of this group but it was wonderful getting the answers to things that had been left open at the end of the last one.

Now... everyone who is a big time fan knows that there is a character death in this book and I won't be so evil as to say who it was but I will say this. The whole book I kept saying to myself "it's going to be him, it's going to be him" I just felt like I KNEW who it was going to be... and I was wrong. So very, very wrong! And you know what, as much as I hate that someone had to die, I'm glad that it was a surprise. That Laurell's writing was able to hide it in the story and that I didn't know who it was from the very beginning. It's hard for a lot of writers to shock you like that these days, but she did. I'll also say that it came out of absolute nowhere and I had to read the paragraphs a couple of times to even realized what had happened. It sort of reminded me of Fred's death in the last Harry Potter book. It was like "Holy crap, I didn't read that correctly did I?" but, I had.

Merry herself was interesting to see post-baby, I quite liked that view of her. I personally don't know what it's like to have children but it all seemed fairly reasonable and believable and I liked it. I love her power and her strength and her ability to guide so many people with her kindness. She is a true leader in the sense that although she does care greatly about her self, she cares more for her friends and that's what counts.

I'd also like to add that I love the little pop-ups that you see of characters from earlier books. They don't always get to stand in the lime-light but just reading a familiar name for a few sentences or so is very nice. It also makes you recall that older book and what was happening in it. I really do enjoy that part of it.