This is the second book in the "War of the Rose" series. It was a little hard to get into. I am not sure if this is because I have not read the first one yet or the writing itself though. I did end up liking it in the end.The imagery was very good and the story progressed well once you got toward the middle of the middle of the book. I had picked up the book because the cover was interesting but after reading the story I am not sure why that scene was the one picked for front. There were much better images - particularly of the serpent with it's mutlitude of colors - red and blue, green and gold. The story carries well across several lands, involving magic and minimal swordplay (mostly training in this book, alluding to a fight in perhaps later stories). At the end, you are left wanting to know whether Averil and Gereint are able to overcome their class differences or if she will be forced to marry someone closer to her own stature. But there is hope for Gereint. I am sure I am going to read the next book in this series but I am not eager and rushing to go get it. I would recommend this story to anyone who likes kings and nobility, mages and "wildmagic" and of course a dose of knights to round everything out. It reminded me a bit of King Arthur but mostly with the most basic of settings and characters. ( )