In addition to the returning characters there are several newcomers, including Taranis the King of Light and Illusion, and Sage of the Demi Fey. Taranis is the Seelie counterpart to Queen Andais, and every bit as unhinged. If absolute power corrupts absolutely, imagine what it does if not limited by the passage of years. Sage, is the representative of Queen Niceven, and is a doll-sized man with butterfly wings. He may be small, but his glamour can cause Meredith to experience fabulous orgasms while he drinks her blood. Not that this is so unusual, as Meredith spends a great deal of the book having mind-blowing sex. Even Kitto, the non-conjugal goblin, finally gets his oats. So does Galen, the Green Knight, whose wedding tackle is restored as part of a bargain. The endless rounds of sex are at turns amusing, erotic and boring. Meredith spends so much time on her back, I got the impression that she should strap a mattress to it! As the story sighed and moaned toward its literary climax, I found myself hoping with each turn of a page that she'd keep her knees together for long enough to advance the more interesting plot elements. Often, I was disappointed.

Just like the first book, A Caress of Twilight is written in an easy to read, first person narrative style, and packed with characters that ooze potential. Annoyingly, this potential remains largely untapped due to the central character spending so much time in bed. Quite often, it read more like a Nancy Friday female fantasy, than a fantasy novel about homicidal faerie folk. As a result, the intriguing and sensitive thread of Maeve Reed and her failing human lover, is rather hurriedly dealt with. Equally lacking is the tremendous threat posed by The Nameless, which suffers due to its early abandonment, until such time as it's needed for the badly telegraphed conclusion. One element which is given fitting prominence, and stands head and shoulders above other facets because of it, is the introduction of and revelations concerning Taranis, the King of Light and Illusion. How the other characters will deal with him, as the series progresses, is what held my attention. By the last page I was wishing that the book had been equal in length to its predecessor, A Kiss Of Shadows, rather than almost two hundred pages shorter. Perhaps then, the author would've felt she had room enough to expand and better develop the fascinating political, criminal, sociological and historical plot elements.