I actually liked the characters more than previously, yet the plot a bit less than the last one. But the characters bumped it up from a 3.5 to 4, rather than down. Again, the setting is interesting… and cool, but it continues to not really do all that much for me, despite it feeling unique. I can’t pin it down exactly, but it is clear that I’m mostly reading the series for the characters and absolute readability of the prose.

Also, who did the artwork for this series? Incredible stuff. I hope they were put on retainer after these because it is by far some of the best fantasy covers I’ve ever seen. In any series!