Yeah...not really feeling this one. I think perhaps there was one too many books, or not enough ideas. Well, that and yet another round of Cas/Tolemek emoting. Really, I do grasp that the temple needed built, Ridge's mom needed to be told, etc., but... the first part of the book was largely a rescue mission to free what must be the most inept former pirate ever (how did he ever survive as a pirate? Seriously), while his love interest panicked because even though they're living together now, they still can't seem to actually relate to each other and she'd bolted and wasn't there to help. He's finally rescued, though I'd imagine it would only be a few weeks before some other topic came up that caused her to bolt.

In the meantime, Ridge's mom has stumbled across a sleeping dragon, saw a kid levitating rocks, and is convinced Ridge is pulling some sort of elaborate hoax on her. It was almost funny until you realize she actually saw this stuff and still doesn't believe it.

Fortunately the wedding takes place (and half the book) and is actually amusing. So is the short story tacked on to the end.

Interesting... so crankypants' issue with magic wielders stems from the late queen's parents' treatment of him.

The adventure in this incident involves a discovery of bones, an old betrayal, and... I can't help but wonder though if perhaps things still managed to be misread. It was centuries in the past though,

Amusing part - h asking her cousin to put in a word for the H so he could be assigned a position closer so she could have sex with him. Rather blunt there. But then, this story was unusually blunt. I suppose it's fitting that this H uttered a curse or two.

Cute.

Ridge has decided to propose to Sardelle, so he asks advice - from 2 people. He gets it from his mom, unasked. One person panics, thinking their SO is about to propose, and the other (plus mom) suggests a nice restaurant and well, a formal affaire. IOW, NOT what he'd been thinking about. He decides to ignore most of the advice, only to discover that his asking around had taken too long and Sardelle had made her own arrangements - involving a dragon. Hahah!

As an aside though, it would appear that mommy might have trapped daddy into marriage there. That being the case, perhaps I'm not so sure I feel a lot of sympathy for her.

Problem #1 The party is split up
Problem #2 The.Party.Is.Split.Up
Problem #3 THE PARTY IS SPLIT UP!!!!

Ok, essentially our merry band of adventurers is split into 3 storylines here. storyline 1 is where most all the fun stuff happens and where most of the group is. Storyline 2 is in search of storyline 3 and consists of one of the adventurers, an amusingly delusional dragon, and an officer who doesn't actually like the star of storyline 3. Storyline 3 consists of the missing, presumed dead H, an amoral, power mad sorceress, and her increasingly disenchanted soulblade.

I had issues with storyline 3 because of what happens. The collision of all these storylines happens over/in the castle. Fortunately, the good guys prevail, likely because the unhappy soulblade refused to protect his mistress.

Well... it wasn't the ending I was hoping for, but I did anticipate part of it due to reading the synopsis of book 7. Fortunately, it isn't as bad as it sounds since there's a book 8, so... I just have a book...or 3...to get to that point. yay.

The good noose is, the nasty gold is taken care of. The bad noose... Oh, there are a few more flying the friendly skies at the end. Fortunately, one doesn't seem inclined to kill everyone. Bonus, the *other* possessed sword actually serves a purpose.