A conclusion to a surprisingly great fantasy series ends surprisingly.

3.5 Stars
While I tore through the first two in this series I found this last one to be lacking a good deal of the

cleverness that made me love Stanley's books to begin with!

Now that Prince Alaric has the enchanted loving cups sure to make Elizabetta, princess of Cortova fall for him, Molly and Tobias are called to court once more to accompany Alaric on his journey.

Unfortunately for the trio, the King of Cortova has alternate motives for his guests as well as a son who is no doubt a sociopath in training.  Luckily for Alaric, Molly has the gift of sight.

Having been plagued by harrowing visions of a bad ending to Alaric's desired fairy tale with Elizabetta, Molly tries to discourage the young king from continuing with his plans.  Of course, Alaric does not heed her warnings though he does ask that Molly and Tobias accompany him in the ruse of a couple engaged.  This way, he can gain from Molly's insight and Tobias' loyalty, but his close relationship with Molly herself will not cause doubt that his affections lie with the princess.

If you have not read the last two books in this series, I am tempted to say you have done yourself a disservice.  There is much to like and the fantasy elements are gentle and do not take over in regard to character building.  You would also be utterly lost as this conclusion does not stand on its own.  On the other hand, there is so much lacking in this last frame of the story that I would almost say reading the former would only lead to heartbreak in this last book.

What worked so very well in both "The Silver Bowl" and "The Cup and the Crown" were the relationships built between the characters.  Particularly Tobias and Molly in the first book, and Alaric, sweet as he was seemed secondary to this.  Alaric himself was absent for most of the second book and while Molly and Tobias' report grew, we were introduced to not only a whole new playing field (the enchanted land of Harrowsgode, Molly's ancestral home) but other great characters such as Richard.  He was present for all of a sentence in this story as was all of Harrowsgode itself, save for a few references to it and a shallow attempt by Molly to invoke the help of Sigrid, he woman on the inside.

Molly and Tobias' bond, while vindicated in many ways felt disrespected throughout the whole of the novel and while we got some good play between Molly and Elizabetta herself, the complicated romantic and political story lines wrapped up far to neatly and in a way that felt a bit empty and heartbreaking.

Of course, I am not giving this book a bad review.  3.5 stars is not bad at all.  Stanley's writing remains superior and the story wasn't really bad.  It just didn't feel like a conclusion befitting royalty.