If you think you would enjoy a light and humorous fantasy series with a central sapphic romance, and you’ve not yet even checked out the first book “You Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea”, stop reading this review right now and go start there. What sort of person are you? Do you look at the last page of a book before you start reading  to make sure there’s a happy ending? Go away! (There is, by the way.)

Rogue alchemists have kidnapped Reyna, the Queensguard-turned-Queen, right after her wedding to Kianthe, the most powerful mage in the country. Given that particular set of volatile ingredients, they are certainly going to get a big reaction! (Because alchemy. Never mind.) Worse than that pun, due to their combined fame across the lands, the town of Tawney is now getting a touch too popular as a tourist destination, which is causing problems for everyone around them. There’s one obvious solution, and that’s closing their beloved tea shop for good and moving away.

Reyna doesn’t stay kidnapped for very long of course, and as part of the investigation into who exactly was behind it, our pair end up spending a lot of time at the Magicary, home of the Stone of Seeing. With all the focus on the Queendom last time, it’s fun to see Reyna on Kianthe’s home turf here. The tensions between the Mages and the Alchemists are well done with their two wildly different approaches to magic, and the resulting prejudices and misunderstandings.

I am on record as enjoying all the previous books in this series, so when Rebecca Thorne said this was the best one yet, it is fair to say that my expectations were suitably raised. I’m glad to say that it delivers on both a fun new adventure, as well as a satisfying end to the series. It wraps up a wide number of things, including the fate of the last missing dragon egg from book one. There is one outstanding unanswered question at the end however, concerning the whereabouts of a particular person, so I am not entirely convinced this is the last we will ever see of Tawney and these wonderful characters. At least, I hope not.

It’s always a good feeling when you can recommend a whole completed series, and I can now do so without reservation!

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