It's been a while since I read the first one, so I was a little disappointed at the lack of recap of what happened in the first book. That may be why I didn't like it, or maybe it really was as boring as I thought. I just couldn't make myself care what happened to anyone, so there was no tension for me. And the characters are so lacking that the tension is really all that holds this book together. The world that de Bodard has built is really fantastic, but the show she has put on inside it is disappointing.