Man...this book...it took me awhile to get into and get through. I started it, set it down, and read three others before I picked it back up to finish. I don't know why. I loved the first one, and characters were primarily the same though there was a slight jump in time. I didn't really hit my stride in reading this until about the last third. Here's hoping that the next and final book in this trilogy will grip my brain like the first did.