I received this as an ARC from Tor Books. I hadn't read the first book in the series, and was concerned that I'd be lost - but I needn't have worried.

This struck me as a good, old-fashioned sword-and-sorcery saga - lots of inter-and-intra-kingdom politics, a great deal of magic, intrigue, soldiers, pointy things, and magical jewels that can make you live forever.

And it's old-fashioned, too, in the way that the sex and violence is never terribly explicit, and the language is never coarse, so you focus on the plot, not the pron.

While I thought the end was a bit tentative, I enjoyed it quite a bit, and I'm looking forward to reading the first book as well. :)