Clearly I've enjoyed this series, to get to number 5. But I thought it really came to life in book 5 when Atticus and Granuille complete the apprenticeship. I normally dislike a big jump in time in a series, but I would have disliked 12 years of boring teaching even more. Before reading this one, though, go find the novella that occurs at 6 years into the apprenticeship - it's important.