** spoiler alert ** 
 Now I will admit, I liked `Lick of Frost' well enough to give it three stars. I just wish that Hamilton had kept that momentum going for this book. I'll warn any readers of this review- I will be somewhat spoilerish. 
 The last book ended with Merry being raped by her uncle Taranis, king of the golden throng. This book begins with Merry in the hospital, getting treated & examined for said crime. Well, she was supposed to be- the actual treatment is glossed over (I facepalmed when Merry wanted to know why she had to get an ultrasound done- um HELLO- you were raped & the doc wants to ensure that your babies are ok- it's standard procedure. Most of the plot during this point comprised of "Oh, my men are so hot- look at everyone staring at them!" Then a death occurs & Merry goes on a magic pony ride to discover which person was ultimately responsible for said death. There's a bit more to the story than that, but I'll not go into it here. (Especially since so many other reviews have said it all already.) 
 The bottom line is that this book was funny, but not on purpose. It was funny in a "so bad it's funny" type of way- like when you watch an Ed Wood film & laugh. Most of the book's plot focused around Merry showing off how uber special she is. There's a resolution of the whole Cel thing, but it really doesn't deliver the way I'd hoped it would be. It was pretty much done just so the plot point could be better done. It read more like a fanfiction than anything else. 
 If you are an ex fan of Hamilton's, this book isn't the "she's back!" herald that you may have subconsciously been waiting for. There's almost no sex in the book, which is a very good thing since she can't write a sexy scene to save her life, but Hamilton still hasn't gotten back into the groove of her previous books. If you like her books, you'll more than likely enjoy this book. For the rest of us it'll be fun because it's so hilariously bad. 
 I'd give the writing a lower rating, but I laughed incredibly hard during several parts of this book so I do have to give it a higher score than I would otherwise. If I could give it a half star, this rating would be a 2.5, but I laughed hard enough that I'll give it a three star review.