If I hadn't recently read the other two books in the series, I believe I would have had to go back and read them. The author doesn't really narrate much about the circumstances surrounding the previous books. And in between reading those and this one, I had read several other books and had to refamilarize myself with the characters in the series. I can say that the development of the characters was much better in this book than in the others. The author took great care to familiarize the readers with the inner-workings of each character. This wasn't a book, however, that I could read non-stop, without putting down. It was good in its own right, but not something that I couldn't have read any time. I can say, without a doubt and without spoiling the ending for any future readers, that this book ended leaving me ready to start the next book which isn't available yet. But to get to that point, I had to read enough to get to the last 3 or 4 chapters of the book. The rest I simply read to get through the book. And some paragraphs I skipped altogether just to finish it. And I mean no disrespect to the author. I just think that tihs book was pushed too hard or that it was expected to get as much in this book as the previous two, which were packed and I couldn't put them down from start to finish. This was a good book and I can hardly wait for the next, but I do think that most of the paragraphs of the book could have been left out and seemed to be mostly for filler because there wasn't anything relevant to say.