What a troublesome book. On one hand, it did have huge scope and imagination, but on the other hand it kept me at arm's length from its characters and left me feeling pretty cold. This is clockwork epic fantasy -- perfectly thought-out but somewhat soulless, or maybe a Michael Bay vision of same -- huge spectacle, but as a reader I didn't really care.

It took me three hundred pages to find something to actually interesting. I had the same problem with Black Company, which I read is a major inspiration here. Even so, I think I might be interested in finding out if the sequels have any more emotion.