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Wow. This book is just - wow. I'm glad its over, but I'm very saddened by the ending.

This is very different from A Red Heart of Memories, more urban fantasy with a grand battle against dark forces than wandering witches trying to right their pasts. Edmund, Matt, Suki, Nathan, and House do find their missing friends, Julio and Deirdre, along with a set of twins who were cursed on the same night as Edmund, and demonic enemies who wish to consume their powers.

It was bizarre, sort of like an AU of the previous canon. Julio was kidnapped as a teenager by a mysterious wizard, who changed his form into eternal fire and somehow implanted another conscious being in his body. It was weird enough then, but it's even weirder now, in the present day. That left only Deirdre as the "normal" kid in the group, without any kind of magic. It frustrated and saddened her, and made her jealous of her lifelong friends. She ran from Guthrie just as hard and fast as the rest of them, but for different reasons entirely. She is very reluctant to return, even after the House summons her.

I wasn't sure what to make of Terry and Tasha, the twins. I didn't really like them, and as they were entirely new characters in this book, it didn't quite seem to fit. The "enemies" were the same; they felt half-formed and a bit tropey for trope's sake.

The romantic strands of the story were tiny but perfect; Nathan and Suki's first kiss was very sweet.

The end, though, (view spoiler)[boy, that was hard for me. The personification of House left the building itself, which then went up in flames. Even though there are assurances that Nathan wouldn't be affected, it still made me sad. The building represented so much to all of these people, and now it's gone - like losing their childhood home. Considering all the allusions of childhood in House's feelings towards its occupants, it just made it extra sad for me. But then, I am sentimental about things, and obviously these characters are not (hide spoiler)].

This book is so different from A Red Heart of Memories and A Stir of Bones that I have no idea if I'd recommend it. I guess it depends on how you felt about the first two - if you liked them, you probably won't like this; if you didn't, then you probably would. Apparently there are more short stories out there starring Matt, and maybe those help fill in some of her inconsistencies. I can't say I'm rushing out to read any of them; I wasn't really interested in her in the end.