1897 dips a little in quality and excitement during the middle portion, IMO, because Joan Bennett and KLS are both absent (among other things), but Count Petofi soon arrives making the plot much, MUCH better. 1897 steadily gets better and better till it enters the absolute *best* part of the series once [spoiler]Julia comes back to the past, Lady Hampshire shows up, Quentin and Petofi go through bodily transitions, Barnabas is "staked", Angelique is engaged to marry Quentin, etc.[/spoiler] The last 40 or so episodes of the storyline are the best ever on DS, I believe. This is all on Sets 16 and 17, though. Set 15 is kind of a drag, but get it to complete your collection, as well as see the arrival of Aristede and Petofi. The earliest and last plots are the best for 1897, IMO.