Eh. It's well-written, I'll give it that. But it meanders along until it reaches a very abrupt end, and is remarkably shapeless in its narrative. There's torture, fights to the death, deception, theatre, and still I'm left with the feeling that nothing much is happening. I mean, objectively I know that it is but though I can recognise all the (clearly apparent) thought that Wolfe has put into this, I just don't feel any emotional connection to any of it. I do appreciate, though, that for a story where the main character is a torturer it hasn't fallen into shock and gore, as it so easily could have done. Credit's due for that.