Inspired by the recent vacation to a tropical island, Yarandrala wants to find a galleon that Ruti sunk in the old days. Everyone’s excited about using the boat to go on a diving trip, but things don’t quite go to plan. It seems someone else had the idea of enjoying summer on the ocean, the princess of the Jade Kingdom...and she wants to visit Zoltan!
As the blurb says, a nice mix of adventure under and above the sea, starting with a treasure dive and ending with an unexpected meeting that leads to some unexpected outcomes. As Red says at some point in the volume, if there is such a thing as fate, it is not one pushed by Demis.
Volume 12 feels like setup for the next (and possible final) arc of the series. It starts with a bit of entertaining slice-of-life and look into the nature Yarandrala, one that is certainly depicting some of the long-lived high elves in this world as very different from the cliché version in fantasy. While things do get more serious later on, as expected, it is not without a dash of light-hearted fun of people enjoying their quiet life and of course the romance between our favorite power couple of the series who are approaching their 1 year anniversary (very much not forgotten by Red and Rit). It is a mix I come to expect and love of the series. Maybe the series could do with a bit faster progress on the main plot, but personally I enjoy this.
So, all in all, a great read and solid addition to the series.