Action! Heartbreak! Desperation! Rescue! I love it. Sadly, the song that most seems to capture their relationship is The Monkees’ “Cheer Up, Sleepy Jean” with the line about the “daydream believer and the homecoming queen.” I’ll keep thinking. In terms of theme music, I haven’t really been able to come up with a good heavy metal ballad that fits Cammon and Amalie. I also jumped at the chance to bring back minor characters from the previous books to make cameo appearances-Sosie, Mayva, Kelti, Torrin, Lara. I always considered it the concluding chapters of one very long novel, and I tried to tie up all the threads and clues that were presented in earlier books. While each of the Twelve Houses books is meant to stand alone, this one would be fairly difficult to follow for anyone who hadn’t read the previous three books, I think. Even worse, war comes to Gillengaria anyway, and Amalie can only be kept safe through the combined efforts of the Riders, the mysticsand the wild raelynx that has mystical powers of its own. Even worse, war comes to Gillengaria anyway, and Amalie can only be kept safe through the combined efforts of the Riders, the mystics-and the wild raelynx that has mystical powers of its own. Much to the dismay of her advisors, Amalie begins to fall in love with the wholly unsuitable Cammon. Much to the dismay of her advisors, Amalie begins to fall in love with the wholly unsuitable Cammon. To protect Amalie from any unsavory suitors, the mystic Cammon is installed to monitor all of Amalie’s courtships, because Cammon is a reader who can tell if someone harbors violence or malevolence in his heart. So he invites all the young serramar to the royal city to court his daughter. King Baryn has decided that if he marries his daughter Amalie to a high-ranking noble, the rebellious marlords might be pacified and he might be able to avert a war. “A chocolate truffle of a novel: richly indulgent, darkly sweet and utterly satisfying.”-Kirkus Reviews

Twelve Houses: Mystic and Rider, The Thirteenth House, Dark Moon Defender, Reader and Raelynx, Fortune and Fate