The series had begun to pall for me, so Buckley brought in several new and interesting developments. I'd say he can keep this going indefinitely which I wouldn't mind, since the characters are maturing and learning and changing. I'm as bad as Daphne, getting all excited when he introduces one of the great fictional characters of all time. However, I do not bite my hand, a habit I haven't been able to picture, thankfully. Best line of the book: "Evil scrapbooking." That inspired a fair number of mwahahahas.