This was, above all else, anticlimactic. I feel like for all the magic and assassins and plotting nobility it would have been interesting, but it felt like nothing happened. Problems that were built up throughout the first book were solved in a couple pages and never mentioned again. There were too many characters and too many meandering plot lines that the whole book just felt convoluted and messy. Overall, I didn't care. I lacked all interest in this book. Sitting down to read it every day felt like a chore and I'm glad to be done.