I'm a huge fan of the first two books in this trilogy, so I was thrilled when I was able to finally get a hold of this one. The story gives us a chance to look back at the characters from previous books (Cindella, Ghost, Milan, etc.) as well as new characters. The main new character, Penelope, is human, but has grown up in the game world instead of out in the real world.
This book is sort of a tying-together of all the threads from the other books. We found out how the various game worlds intersect, what has happened to humans and game characters in other worlds, and all the characters' story lines are brought to a fairly satisfying conclusion. It is a rather too neat wrap-up, but it's sort of nice to have that satisfying ending occasionally.
The main reason I gave this four instead of five stars like the other books is that I think I missed the one-character focus that the first two had. As much as I enjoyed seeing Cindella and Ghost again, they weren't in that stage of self-discovery that they were experiencing in their own books. And I think that's what I really enjoyed about those books. Penelope is going through that, but we only get about half (and possibly less) of the book with her; I actually wanted more of her storyline/for her to have more of the action.
Still, it's very well-written and an enjoyable, fast read. I admittedly ended up putting off some other books I was reading when I got this because I couldn't put this one down. I think it's focused more toward YA, but it's one of those YA books that adults can enjoy reading as well.
(And if you haven't read the first two, while you could probably read this one on its own, you really should read Epic and Saga first, both for a better understanding of what's going on and just because they're awesome. I loved both of them!).
