The second in the trilogy bounces us forwards 14 years, introducing a whole new raft of characters and their names to keep track of! ;)

My decade-old memory of this series was about recessive genetic traits – and it’s in this volume that we see what the other inheritance is.

Otherwise, it’s yet more political plotting, scheming and other bits of nasty work. And also a great deal of slightly girlie matchmaking, as the now grown-up children of our original characters go looking for luuurve… or, more likely, suitable partners to join various princedoms, ensure family ties, blah blah. All a bit slick really, but thankfully the whole is still pretty enjoyable.