I read Dragon Ever After, the first book in the spin off series, before I read this one. Seeing the great interactions amongst the characters in that book, I quickly realized I didn't know Percy, Sam, Gideon, or Alistair's back stories, so I put aside that series and concentrated on this one.

I am so glad I did.

I loved Sam's backstory, and what a backstory he ends up having in this book. I particularly loved his interactions with Alistair and the first team at CSG. I had a lot of laughs during those times. I loved seeing Percy in his element and how much people love and respect him. And it's was nice seeing the "gentle" side that Sam brings out in Gideon.

And the "mystery plot" was excellent. I'm hoping we'll see more of it in some of the books in the series. I can't wait to learn more about the secondary characters. I plan to devour the rest of this series and any and all of the spinoff ones.