This series seems to be losing some of it's spirit. It just seemed to go on for a bit too long and felt almost like an excercise in writing a series rather than a serious inclusion in the series.
The fight between the magi and the jousters and the other magic users intensifies and starts to get serious. More and more children are turning up dead or drained. The Magi are planning to do more damage.

It is a problem sometimes with Mercedes Lackey that her bad guys rarely seem to have shades of grey involved.

Part of the Full series by this pair and it's a fun romp, however it would possibly be a better read if you read it with the rest of the series.

Maggie's ex-boyfrined is a psycho who just broke out of jail and is looking for her, or more accurately looking for the cash he stashed in her house (unknown to Maggie); Zach is an FBI agent who is assigned to care for her, add in the characters in Beaumont, South Carolina and you have a light, fun, read. Not as good as her other works but fun.

*

A great story. A wonderful character in Fiametta who is a strong-willed daughter of a magician-goldsmith whose father doesn't want her to be an apprentice, more because of her gender than any ability. So Thur Ochs is recruited as his apprentice, however evil magic gets in the way and they have to work together to defeat the evil and free her father's soul.