Further thoughts on the Ardeur: in and of itself, it's not my favorite part as such, but what it's allowed for the character(s) (Anita in particular, and those around her by extension) *is* my favorite thing about the series. Given where her character was, and how tightly controlled (emotionally) she'd become, it took something that extreme (and in particular something related to such a hard-edged boundary for her) to break her down so she could start rebuilding who she was. Before Incubus Dreams, I didn't actually like Anita very much, and mostly read the series for the secondary characters. Now, I like her quite a bit.