Ugh. The start of the series seems to have raised a bar the other books can’t quite meet. While my criticism of the second volume (too little character development) is met and answered beautifully on all counts, the story drags along a lot. While showing known scenes from a second viewpoint was cute in the second volume, it grew tedious here, and I felt that the pacing between story development and flashbacks was uneven.
And then there’s the ambivalent stuff – we get to delve deeper into Krasian culture, for instance (which, to me, is still the most tiresome part of that worldbuilding). Which: yay wordbuilding, but nay full-on racist fantasy Arabs? What is this book.
But all things considered, not that much happens when measured by the first volume, and what’s happening is a mix of decent fantasy and full yikes.
