Having read some of the other reviews I was pleasantly surprised by the majority of the book. The characters are already well developed and a pleasure to read but I was left quite unsatisfied, in particular by the second half of the book. Looking at the map, Sachaka isn't small but I was left feeling you could count the people involved in the last confrontation. There is never any doubt of the outcome, very little to lend any feeling of tension or drama to the story's climax. It has been so long since I read the first trilogy that I can't remember if this is typical for Trudi Canavan.
The trilogy just fizzles out leaving room for sequels that I'm left wondering if I really want to read.