The first half of this book was awful. I almost didn't make it through. This is one hundred percent because of Liam the Dragon and his and Alanna's relationship. Thanks, I hate it. The second half was much better -- we came back to Tortall and finally got to deal with all the problems that had been brewing there while Alanna and Liam were alternately making cow eyes at each other/having bitter arguments in the wilderness.

It was still pretty disjointed. A prominent theme in the book is the belief that "magic is cheating" and somehow wrong (I can only imagine a scene where someone says this to Kvothe... imagine his response...) which is emphasized by the fact that the major conflict is caused by some idiot magician wildly overstepping his authority and raising the dead. Only... it's never addressed. Liam the representative of the anti-magic league gives his life for Alanna, and there's no... point... at which the issue of Magic: Is It Justified? is resolved, despite it being a conflict the book focused on and an issue Alanna has struggled with her whole life?

Also, Alanna realizes her brother is dying somehow because of the corrupted magic he used to raise zombie Roger, and then... shrugs and goes "oh well!" ignoring the problem for? days? weeks? Also, I still hate George and honestly his subplot of underworld conflict with the Claw is incredibly random and seems shoehorned in to give George more screentime? It has nearly no relevance to zombie Roger or anything else that's going on.

However, all this comes nowhere near being as annoying as the Liam And Alanna Make Love In The Forest Show. Given the second half of this book's eleventh hour comeback, I MAY go on to find out what's up with Numair, once a sufficient enough time has passed for me to forget how most of these books let me down. I doubt I will ever become a Tamora Pierce enthusiast, though.