I enjoyed this 13th installment of the Lupi Books. It wasn’t quite as strong as Mind Magic, but it still was a solid Lily and Rune book. The biggest problem I had was that the ending wasn’t really an ending it all. I couldn’t even honestly call it a cliffhanger. The book just stopped. And that’s not cool.

The story picks up right on the heels of the last one. Lily and Rune are finally back home, but they don’t have much of an opportunity to relax. Her old nemesis, Tom Weng, is back and he is working for the Lupi’s great enemy. She Who Shall Not Be Named has a new plan and it involves targeting the valuable children of various clans. Including Toby.

The story follows Lily and Rule as they try to figure out what happened to the children and work to get them back. There is plenty of action. And the dragons feature prominently along with Grandmother, which is always a treat. The dragons are one of my favorite things about this series. They are so foreign and arrogant, and they have so many interesting secrets and layers.

We also get to travel to another dimension again, which is cool. And longtime readers will enjoy how many threads from earlier in the series come back around here.

Really, my only complaint is that ending. I mean, it’s not the most emotional installment of the series, but I liked it. It just feels completely… incomplete. If I had known, I would’ve waited to read this when the next book comes out. But I still would have read it. And enjoyed it.

Wow was this one heck of a whirlwind read. I feel like this series has seriously ramped up and has taken off with a ginormous bang. There's no sign of things slowing down, that's for sure, especially when you consider the almost cruel cliffhanger this DRAGON SPAWN ended with. In so many cases, even in much loved series, by the time you get to the 13th installment things have drastically changed, and it's just dragging on. But that's simply not the case here. So much happens and it's just as fresh and exciting as the first book, if not even more so. Very impressive to say the least.

Speaking of impressive, I especially enjoyed the balance the characters brought to DRAGON SPAWN. While the action and events continued at an almost frenetic pacing, there still were moments of levity and true depths of emotion to round things out. Gan's outlandishness stole the show for me and I loved how she could make me giggle at the most absurd of times considering what the rest of the characters were going through. Add that to the large and varied cast, and the multiple romances, and it was just a very enjoyable installment. Fans of the series should be more than pleased and I can't wait to get my hands on the upcoming book to see what happens next!