Blurb:
"Branded and sold into slavery in Senestra, Arkady holds out little hope of being rescued. In order to survive, she to turns her new owner, Dr Cydne Medura for help, but as she discovers the truth about him, she learns it may end up costing them both their lives.
Back in Glaeba, Jaxyn's plans for the crown hit a snag, when he realises the one man who can challenge him for the Glaeban throne, Stellan Desean, the former Duke of Lebec, has sought asylum in neighbouring Caelum. With the Empress of the Five Realms and Tide Lords, Tryan and Elyssa on his side, he may well succeed in bringing Jaxyn down.
Meanwhile, as Warlock fights to save his pups from Elyssa's twisted notions of kindness and the chameleon Crasii, Tiji, finds some unexpected friends, Declan Hawkes, struggling to come to terms with his shocking transformation, leaves Glaeba to look for Arkady.
His search will take him to the very ends of Amyrantha, from the steaming Senestran Wetlands to the frozen wastes of Jelidia and the Palace of Impossible Dreams. Along the way he will find a reluctant ally - Cayal, the Immortal Prince."
This is another satisfying read in the series. The story progresses nicely, albeit cryptically for the most part. Fallon proves a master of the plot twist, the most surprising she leaves for the last page.
This book develops Declan's character a lot more by giving him lots of page time, and I found that I wanted him to assume the archetypal main character-hero role. Of course, being a work of one Jennifer Fallon means that archetypes are forbidden to go unblurred. In this way she steeps her fantasy epic genre in real life, which I hold to be the mark of a good writer.
This book also brings the peripheral amphibious and canine crasii characters to the fore. At first I thought this was because they were in some way important to the plot, however, having read the whole series and looked back at their role, I think it's simply a literary device to describe the actions of the antagonistic immortal characters of the maniacal Elyssa and her family, the disturbingly enigmatic Lukys, the amoral simpleton Pellys etc, without giving them the spotlight. This adds to the mystique of those characters that lean towards the evil side.
By the end of this thing I just wanted to get the last book over with, but not at all because it was becoming tedious. The threads of the story seemed to unravel a little further and I began wondering how the author was going to tie everything back up in her final installment. Again, Fallon's prose and storytelling ability ensure The Palace Of Impossible Dreams is a solid addition to a top series.
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