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Fans of Dianne Sylvan's Shadow World will love the third installment, Shadow's Fall which takes place three years after Shadowflame. David, the Prime for the South, and his queen, Miranda, are hosting the Signet Council meeting that takes place every 10 years. They're on guard as Prime Hart of the Northeast may have plans for revenge against Miranda who threw him against the wall and granted sanctuary to Cora, one of the women he had held captive. Cora only has a smallish part in this book, but I think we'll see much more of her in future storylines. Also at stake is what will happen with Miranda's singing career. Most of the Council wants her to quit now, but Miranda wants to perform as long as she can. She knows she won't have that long before people notice that she doesn't age.

Add to this mix, the appearance of David's sire, Lydia, who has a gift that she claims will help them. David thinks it's a trick, but Miranda feels compelled to accept it. Prime Devon warns that the gift will do them harm rather than good, and Jonathan has had more premonitions that he can't or won't share. Sylvan throws a new character into the mix who has the power to tear their world apart completely.

Sylvan continues to impress with her ability to wring emotions from her readers and give us the right balance of action and romance. She incorporates lots of twists and turns and a few surprises to keep everyone guessing. It's the true talent of a writer who can have her readers feeling the same things as her characters along with them, and Sylvan's highly-developed characters do just that. I have to warn you that there's a bit of a cliffhanger at the end, and I haven't yet found a publication date for the fourth book. It may be a bit of a long wait for book four.

Katherine Petersen started reading as a young child and hasn't stopped. She still thinks she can read all the books she wants, but might, at some point, realize the impossibility of this mission. While she enjoys other genres, she thrives on fantasy, science fiction and mysteries.