Greetings!

Cool! I am (in case you hadn't noticed) somewhat obsessive about a number of topics. Anything I can do to help out.

There were certainly some intriguing plot twists and changes in the book. The light-hearted approach is, to some extent, still there, but there is a lot more grim activity to this book. As you can guess from the conclusion of book 4, much will be happening. The humor is still there, but tempered by events around as well.

Surprises can be, and are, still surprises. A lot of the things I thought were certain after reading book 4 turned out completely opposite my expectations.

To me, personally, it is not that the stories are darker that makes them more enjoyable. It is the detail, the character growth over time.