What a disappointment this turned out to be. I only finished it for info on future installments. For all his posturing in previous books, Lothaire is boring. I definitely enjoyed him more as a secondary character than a main one. 

Extremely disappointed in the characterization of the FMC who is Appalachian. I began this book as an audiobook but quickly switched to print because the narrator’s voice was so bad and insulting I couldn’t continue in audio. The FMC’s cleverness doesn’t make up for the ridiculous caricature. The author used a stereotype of what non-southerners think people from Appalachia and the greater south are like. I understand that the author wanted someone completely opposite him in tone and personality; someone he wouldn’t expect and therefore underestimate and believe beneath him. But the contrast is forced to a ridiculous degree and it comes off extremely offensive.