I especially loved the charming, adorable Umber. She is my favorite character in this or any story, even though there have been many very engaging competitors for top honors in this category.A feature of the novel I especially appreciated was the lack of needless repetition. The storyline moved along without 'filler'. The authors did not repeat points already made or describe the same environment in virtually the same words over and over as seems to occur too frequently. Perhaps an author needs to meet a publisher's requirement regarding a certain number of words? Regardless of the reason for the repetition it was very pleasant that the writing in this novel lacked any such padding. It was very well written and interesting. I also enjoyed the originality.All in all a very good book.