The ghost of a long-dead queen appears, coinciding with a mysterious Sicknesse overwhelming the populace and the sudden disappearance of Septimus. I enjoy this series, as would a lot of people into the Harry Potter theme, but this book was not as good as the first two. I feel like the author is introducing TOO MANY new characters and that the focus has shifted away from Septimus and Jenna, my two favorite characters. I was too distracted by other people's secondary story lines.