I didn't think that this book was anywhere near as good as the previous ones in the series. Richard may be a wizard with a mighty sword, but he doesn't really need weapons, as he could quite easily talk everyone to death. The same with Khalan - it doesn't matter how dangerous the situation she is in, she likes nothing better than to stop everything and have a good philosophical discussion, in which she explains the same thing over and over again, on the faint chance that the reader didn't get it the first or second time through. This over-emphasis on characters explaining mundane things gives an almost childlike quality to the writing, which seems absurd, given the author's fondness of sadistic and sexual themes, which he describes in intricate detail. There are appealing aspects to this story, so I still give it three stars, but overall I found it disappointing.