I had a really hard time with this one, and it wasn't due to the writing as that was good. I just could not connect with the characters at all. it was unfortunate that the epilogue felt more intriguing than the rest of the book.

Torbert Melling was a man who knew how to get what he wanted. And, since before he was old enough to speak in sentences, he had never failed to do so. Whether by asking, or simply by taking, he satisfied his own desires and built a magnificent kingdom out of money and ambition until it matched the size and scope of his dreams.

Elaine is so...I don't know...annoying? I did not like her and could not relate.

Almost everyone she knew was able to overwhelm her with words. Particularly the men. They would simply talk and talk and talk until she was too confused to form a ready answer, and when she hesitated, they assumed her witless. Would her fiancé have done the same, she wondered? Used words to keep her small and out of the way? Or would he have used them to defend her? To bear the burdens that distressed her without also removing the ones she wanted to keep for herself?

Will was interesting to begin, but then he became so boring. I couldn't help but feel like their relationship didn't make sense. I don't know I just wasn't feeling the chemistry.

“I came looking for ghosts," he announced conversationally, “or rats, but you are clearly neither, though I suspect if you do not eat what is on that tray you may soon be a candidate for the former.”

Blaise honestly was the most interesting character, yet he has the smallest role. I would have rather read a story about him. I kept hoping at any moment, his secret girlfriend/boyfriend would pop out of somewhere because he was such a sweet soul and how could anyone not like him? Maybe he reminds me of the movie Powder, which I always liked.

“Exploring," Will replied, as offhandedly as he could manage. “Can’t imagine why all this space up here has gone unused so long.” “Can’t you?” Blaise asked. “And here I thought it was to give me all the trappings of the mad genius: living alone amidst the dust and the echoes and the emptiness, feeding my crazed dreams on loneliness and despair.”

Not the greatest addition to the Andari Chronicles, but I'll still read the next one because I did like the Traitor's Masque.