Beth Bernobich's third book in her River of Souls series, Allegiance is even better than the two that preceded it, Passion Play and Queen's Hunt. Passion Play introduced the reader to the world of Ilse Zhalina and Raul Kosenmark, a world rife with politics and magic. Queen's Hunt continued their story, although they were separated by seemingly insurmountable odds. Allegiance picks up right where Queen's Hunt left off. Ilse and Raul are still, as far as they can tell, forever remaining apart, for the good of the kingdoms. King Leos is dead, in ways that cannot be undone (and his chance for reincarnation look extremely slim). Ilse is fulfilling her vow to return Valara Baussay, the Queen of Morennioù, to her kingdom. Raul is doing everything he can to prevent a war in Veraene. All of this while spies and enemies and obstacles of nature all try to thwart everyone on every page.

It is not all murder and mayhem, of course. Love can be found in the strangest of places and readers will be happily surprised by some of the matches that occur by the story's end. People receive gifts they did not know they wanted, until they get them, and not always from someone they would like to accept *anything* from. And sometimes, as fabulous a gift as it is, it is not a gift they would have asked for, especially not at this point in their life. Other people find freedom in ways they did not imagine were possible, sometimes against their conscious will. And Ms. Bernobich handles it all marvelously well.

Some final words of warning- you may find that trying to read when tears are running down your face and getting all over the last 2 chapters of the books is really hard to do! Worth every second of it, but hard to do! So, stock up on tissues. Make sure you are sitting comfortably, for you will not want to put this story down until you reach the very end. Then, if you are like me, you will find yourself revisiting section after section, reliving with the characters important events in their lives, in this installment of what is hoped to be a long ongoing saga. ( )