This book was one of the biggest let-downs of the entire game. Put forth as 'swashbuckling feminists' it instead traded women's subserviance to men for women's subserviance to the Sidhe. These are no longer free willed women who chart the course of their own destiny, they, instead, act at the behest of their 'benevolant masters' in some uber-secret war which was never discussed in any previous books.

Add to that the inclusion of a 'male SD' group which is stunningly game breaking all on its lonesome combined with a new form of magic which allows all the females of the SD to bypass any roleplaying in favor of forcing the GM to tell them who the bad guy is right away, and you begin to understand how poorly thought out this book is.

It's quite obvious the author has a soft spot for 'elves' as the capricious and often evil Sidhe are given a makeover which places them firmly in the "we're here to rescue the poor humans who couldn't possibly figure this out on their own" camp. And the book suffers for that.

While I understand the desire to more fully flesh out parts of the game that are not initially discussed, this book proceeds to give undue abilities to PCs in such a game-imbalancing manner it quickly becomes obvious there was no playtesting for this product. Stick with the earlier books and save yourself the cost of this.

The main book of my favorite RPG. Certainly the organization is a bit wonky but the world is full of adventure and just reading this book will get you curious about how it all turns out. It's as though they took the best tidbits of history and mashed them all together at once. The French Revolution and the Three Musketeers (it's coming), King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table (oh they're there all right), Machiavelli and the Merchant Princes of Italy (oh heck yea), Vikings, the 30 Years War? It's all in there with pirates and a system that is not only forgiving if you try the impossible, but that also encourages it.

I only wish AEG had the foresight to continue this product or at least licence it out to folks who would do more with it.