The first half of this book was a struggle. It was full of the same descriptions from previous books (sometimes almost word for word). Towards the middle and end there were new places (yay!) But the plot points were particularly obvious and the suspense was not there.
The ending was satisfying enough, some things were resolved which shored up Uhtred's less than flattering characterisation. Some plot points seemed really rushed, others drawn out.
I'm still left with so many questions about characters who have appeared in the series, things that have happened and why things were done.
I enjoyed this series up until about book 8.... at the most I think it would have been satisfactory to end with 'The flame bearer' which I think was one of the strongest novels in the series.

Aside from the last 3rd of this book I feel like the last 3 didn't add much to the series. But overall they were well written, if a bit tedious and repetitive at times.
Perhaps if I had read them as they came out rather than all in sequence in a shorter period of time, this would not have bothered me so much.

I will pick up another book of Bernard's but I will approach any long series of his with some caution