I think Fool's Quest is the most middle-booky middle book of RotE. For me there was just a lot of preparing and planning and talking. In Golden Fool though it felt more domestic in a sense and while it was setting future action up, there was a lot else being discovered and going. And that did happen here, it just felt like Fitz especially was stuck in a rut - which I suppose is almost a character trait in and of itself for him. Some parts were lovely, and others just way too drawn out for me. I think it might have also suffered from immediately following Fool's Assassin, which was full of tension and completely engaging - and FQ just couldn't keep that energy. But the last quarter of Fool's Quest was really engrossing and it has one of my favorite extended quotes from RotE. I'm looking forward to the payoff from all this setup in Assassin's Fate.