I loved the first two books in this series and they carried this one for me. It's very good (because Thomas is an awesome writer!) but it's a harder sell. There's more confusing stuff going on in the sci fi world (I had a hard time following some of the plot-- maybe just because of the gap between books) and there's less of Iolanthe and Titus here. And they're the best! Ultimately, for me, this was a romance that happened to be set in a magical fantasy world. The relationship is more prominent in the first two books though. In this one we get more politicking and prophecy, which is fine, but not as strong as the emotional elements (for me). So I'd certainly recommend it highly but maybe not AS highly as the first two books (though you have to know how it ends!)....