Disappointing follow-up to to "Feast of Souls", in which the characters become little more than a vehicle for the plot and everything charming about the first book--Kamala's mixed feelings about her magister powers and her relationship with her consort--gets placed on the backburner.

This novel unfortunately falls into the trap of many others in the genre. There is no real sense of where the book is going for the first half, and then, about halfway through, a prophecy pops up out of nowhere that dictates what the characters must do. Achieving this goal becomes the climax of the book, and it totally falls flat. The multiple story lines do not converge, the characters do not undergo any sort of major transformation, and there is no insight or message that the book attempts to convey. Everything in the novel serves merely to advance a very slap-stick plot.

Major disappointment, although I'll finish the damn series if I can check out the last book from the library.