Beta Lyrae

In this book, Marci undertakes a perilous journey through the magical underworld, seeking godlike power and revelations about the nature of her world.

Meanwhile, Julius tries to solve his favorite sister's relationship problems.

(I am actually deeply invested in Chelsie's love life! But the fact that I can summarize the book as I have above really amuses me.)


Okay, we all pretty much understood that F-clutch is the result of an affair between Chelsie and the Golden Emperor, and that her pregnancy was a very large problem for everyone, reasons not explained. I don't think that part was a surprise to anyone except Julius.

In this book, we get to meet Chelsie's ex! His name is Xian. I like him, mostly; he's breathtakingly arrogant, but that's counterbalanced by his naïveté and his absolute terror of his own powers. (And Julius is right that Xian's powers are more a curse than a blessing at this point—the entire Golden Empire is obsessed with keeping the guy from getting upset, because if that happens they figure he'll go off like a bomb. And he believes the same thing, so he's internalized the idea that his least bad mood risks the lives of everyone who depends on him. Poor guy! I definitely didn't get all of that from Chelsie's flashback in the third book's prologue. And I can't really bring myself to be upset that the Qilin's line is no more; it sounds like a dreadful way to live.)

His original plan is spectacularly terrible. He figures that Heartstriker is now vulnerable and his previously invulnerable lost love is about to become a target. So he decides to sweep in, conquer her clan, and then just go home. So she'll be protected by his luck (... the same luck that turns sour whenever he's upset), without him actually having to talk to her or anything. And never mind the fact that even with the most generous terms possible, her family is definitely going to rebel as soon as they get a chance. I am fairly sure that he did not actually detail this plan to anyone, because even the Golden Court, whose lives appear to revolve around protecting their emperor from anything resembling stress, would have to admit that that is a horrible plan on just about every level.

I mean, it's also kind of endearing; he's so sheltered that he still comes across as very young, despite being six hundred years old. And he clearly doesn't take initiative very often, so it does make sense that he's not very good at it.

The Empress Mother, on the other hand, is basically exactly the same as she seemed in Chelsie's flashback: an unmitigated jerk. Holding her sacrifice over Xian's head his whole life, just like Bethesda held her humiliation over Chelsie's. Also, if we're assigning blame in accidental unplanned pregnancies: you could just as well blame Xian for his luck (he wanted babies, so babies happened even though everyone involved knew it was a terrible idea) as Chelsie for her family fertility, and if you're going to blame Xian, you might as well blame his mother for making him the most powerful Qilin ever, because I'm pretty sure that had something to do with his luck being so far out of his control.

I did actually predict Fredrick being Chelsie's potential successor, but not him being Julius's new alternate for the Fang's Seat. And while his bitterness at being forced into that position is justifiable, it's still a great move. Maybe they can use Ian's deal. (His hug with Chelsie was honestly really sweet. And snarling at the Emperor to get away from his mom. Now for the other nineteen siblings to meet their dad and baby sister! Frieda, for example, seems like she could really use something nice in her life.)

It was really kind of sweet how immediately after Chelsie admits she's his mom he's calling her that when he tells Julius she's a skilled mage.

The baby dragon is a nice mix of adorable and dangerous; no name yet, but I guess Bob decided to leave that to her parents. I'm a bit disappointed not to have seen more of her with Bob, but Chelsie's interactions with her were a lot of fun. (And if going into battle with your mom is an old rite of passage... the other nineteen kids are going to want their turn.)


I'm a bit sad that Aldo Novalli was around so very briefly, but his scenes with Marci were moving and I was glad to see them actually interacting.

I also loved Marci telling Ghost that she's not scared of him even if he does have an existential crisis for a face. Their relationship has always been a weird mixture of creepy (learn some boundaries, death cat!) and genuinely sweet.

I did not see Amelia's real plan coming at all, but it makes sense that dragons would acquire a Mortal Spirit this time around, and it fits with her protests that she was too being responsible in the last book. (Also, I want to see Svena's reaction when she finds out that not only has her rival ascended to godhood, she helped her do it.)

Raven and Emily Jackson as a halfway-Mortal Spirit and a non-mage Merlin—that's not something that had occurred to me, even with the parallels between them and Ghost/Marci last book! I am pleased that Emily made it out alive (I was pretty sure she was dead partway through this one) although that makes some of what happened to her even more horrific. Taken apart for spell parts and still conscious the whole time. (And then patched up offscreen by Raven.)

I also did not expect Sir Myron to partially redeem himself. I mean, I guessed pretty early that he was not actually on Algonquin's side, but I figured he was out for himself, rather than out for his own warped sense of what's best for the world. I still think he's an absolutely terrible match for the spirit of the DFZ, and that's without taking into account that he basically tortured her as soon as she "woke up".

I feel kind of sorry for Algonquin—she was terrible, but she did have some legitimate grievances—but in the end she made her choice. And now they're down to a faceless horror as an enemy, which seems unfortunate; Algonquin was unpleasant but at least she had a personality.


In conclusion, I really liked this book! I did miss some characters—Justin, Ian and Katya basically just cameo, and Svena and Conrad never actually appear. There wasn't much room for them, and I could see why they were shuffled offscreen—Svena's at her most interesting when Amelia's around, which she wasn't; Justin has been more and more sidelined over time, and would've been worse than useless for the problems Julius actually had in this book; Conrad is a minor character who I just really enjoyed last time around. But all together, that was a big chunk of the cast to lose for a whole book like that.

I am a bit leery about the next book just because so much was resolved in this one; we're down to just one threat. And the Leviathan is an eldritch abomination from between the planes; it's hard to see how they'll fight it, and... well, it has no previous characterization, and I'm kind of scared it'll be boring as a main villain.

Also, I love Bob, and it's looking more and more like he really is going to die in the next book. I don't want that to happen! Especially not without him seeing Julius or Amelia again!

(And I'm starting to suspect that Svena's going to get her seer after all—but it's going to be one of the boys that Ian has joint custody over. Because I don't think her eggs have actually hatched yet. The only hint I've got that Bob might live after all is his promise that he and his niece are going to be "best enemies", which sounds like he intends to still be alive when she's an active seer.)