This book is labeled as the final book in the series.  After Book 5's disappointing flavor, I might not have cared.  But I loved this story and I so want to know what comes next.

Lizbeth and Eli are back in California and the Holy Russian Empire.  It's time for the Wizards' Ball where young magically-talented people are brought out to meet each other.  It's time for families to cull through the Listed young people to find an advantageous alliance for their own youngster or their family.  Felicia is sixteen now and eligible to attend.  The week will offer numerous opportunities for her to find new friends and decide on an eligible young man; there will be dances, dinners, teas, shows and outings.  Felicia is tremendously excited; Lizbeth, a lot less so.  She'll have to dress up and be forced to find creative ways to hide her guns.  Either Eli or Lizbeth will attend each event to protect Felicia; which turns out to be highly necessary.  For reasons they don't immediately understand, Felicia is targeted and they have to thwart more than one attempt on her life.

Felicia has tremendous power; she is able to both dispense instant death but she can also give life.  Her power would be a huge asset to any magical family; but some might be of the opinion that if they can't have her, no one will.  Lizbeth hates being in the city and trying to be someone she's not.  But she'll do anything to protect her little sister; and her skills will not only save her sister but will also draw interest.  Eli is rather in the background for this book; he is off on mysterious errands and meetings that he won't share with Lizbeth. She begins to resent being excluded and realizes that Eli truly longs to be back in the Russian court and not living a small life on a dry farm in Texoma, with her. 

Lizbeth is very unsophisticated and unconcerned with worldwide events so she is a bit surprised to learn that war brewing on the European continent has involved her little sister who is regarded as a weapon-of-mass-destruction which everyone wants on their side.  The war has been 'seen' by magical seers and they know what this upstart Hitler is going to do.  And when Felicia realizes both what her power means to both sides, and that her ability can affect the direction of the war, she never hesitates.  It is both disconcerting to Lizbeth to realize that her deadly little sister doesn't really need her protection, and a source of pride to know what Felicia is capable of.

I was happier with this story plot and the characters than I was with the last book.  The plot is much more interesting with the spectre of world war looming.  The characters acted more true to form; Felicia is more a young teenager, Lizbeth grumpy but doing what she sees as her duty, but Eli was rather ignored in the story.  When you get to the end, you might appreciate what the author was trying to do by distancing both the reader and Lizbeth from Eli.  It did, however, feel a bit contrived.  Harris writes a fast-paced story which I can breeze through; this book took a whole day.  The characters are not very nuanced; the plot is primary but I do enjoy Lizbeth and the worldbuilding quite a bit.  I am just severely disappointed that she doesn't intend to continue the story so we can see the effects of Felicia's decision to join the war effort, the direction the magical practitioners will go as their community is fractured by nationalism, and how Lizbeth will inevitably be drawn into the conflict.  There was even the suggestion that the North American continent will have its own conflict which might redraw borders.   It baffles me that Harris is willing to drop this series with so many questions and directions the story can go.  ~~ Catherine Book

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