This is the third book in the Cassandra Palmer series, it continues with a similar format to the pervious books; set within a few days span and about a week and a half after the last book. You can therefore expect like the others to be taken straight into the action and to have the pace mantained thoughout the book. The opening chapters are very good, thrilling and interesting. The book begins where the last left off with Cassie searching for the codex, that contains the counter spell to the geis. She has more allies in this book, one of its roles seems to be setting up the sides for the war and through it we learn that she has even more enemies. Luckily it isn't all about getting rid of the geis, there are some pretty good suprises, and some good developments with the characters. Theres quite a few references to the first book, that didn't much much sense at the time and pretty much all the characters are back. Prikin's story is very good, the scenes which are about him or have in become the more interesting and unexpected ones. His scenes with Cassie are therefore a nice contrast to hers with Mircea as they have become extremly monotonous; you always know how there going to end. I've never been a fan of the Mircea character, he just seems vaguely slimey and rather boring, I can't really picture him, he's got a lot going against him not to mention guys with long hair weird me out. This isn't a love story but Cassie does get close to a couple of men, I gotta say a prefer her narrative when she's alone, this is often when its at its most fresh and funniest. Particually in her scenes with Mirea her reactions are very repetitive, she just repeats that she knows that she can't do what she doing cause it will strengthen the geis but then she just looses herself and goes into a kind of trance and its like it everytime, its boring. There are other repitions that are equally annoying, she mentions many times that other characters perceive her as stupid, this happens alot and often I agree with them. I like that as a character she doesn't just go in guns blazing, she bides her time, and makes calculated moves but often I don't understand the decisions she makes which can make it hard to relate. These irritations don't detract from the fact that this is a very good book; its thrilling with a few good quirks and often rather funny. I recomend the entire series, enjoy.