Alanna the knight of Tortall has become restless and sets out on a quest to acquire the Dominion Jewel to aid her kingdom. Along the way she makes news friends of a Shang Warrior, an exiled princess, and her fiercely loyal servant. But soon, Alanna feels that she might be needed at home. She returns to find Prince Jonathan has been made King of a land that is becoming harder to rule by the minute, George the Rogue's rule is also being challenged, and her brother Thom is very ill after restoring life to her old nemesis Duke Roger.

I really enjoyed this end to the series. I had a few small gripes about relationship stuff, and if Thom is going to be so important to the series, I would have liked to have spent more time with him, but all in all I couldn't wait to see what happened, and I'm looking forward to continuing on with Tamora Pierce's other series.