This series has the makings of a lot of fun, once the author gets over some of those "first book" jitters--trying to tell too much story at once, jumping from one idea to the next and assuming the reader followed along. Full disclosure--I have been reading this book on and off for almost ten months, so part of that might have been the lag in my reading as I went to pursue other topics. Still, the series has potential with lots of political intrigue, questions of morality, and,of course, swashbuckling.