I really wanted to like this book much more than I do - I've read much praise for the author and the series. It has all the right elements to be a good book in theory - an intriguing and well thought out plot, interesting characters, a great pace etc. But in practice it just didn't work for me for a variety of reasons.

The biggest problem I had was with the exposition - the author deliberately withheld key information, privy to the characters we were following, for the vast majority of the book just for a final reveal at the end. It was an annoying trick and he did it not once but twice - it was blatantly obvious, jarring and very frustrating. Other completely obvious plot elements were also held back and revealed as if they should be some kind of surprise - these were not and they just added to the sense of frustration.

Add to that some dodgy characterisation - the characters have interesting histories and motivations but some of them were surprisingly bland. The narrative told us that certain characters were perceived in certain ways but this just didn't come across well in the actual story - a supposedly dangerous villain, an egomaniac and a complex soldier character all came across as surprisingly one dimensional and uninteresting. The narratives purported perception of them by other characters seemed at odds with my understanding of them as a reader.

Finally the ending felt very rushed; surprisingly for a long book which had been doing a good job of building to a big climax despite its other flaws. The author even threw in a huge deus ex machina plot element in the final few chapters which really undermined the hard work put in. The excellent back story and clever overall plot were sadly let down by this - the crux of the ending was actually superb but it was let down by these unnecessary elements and the afore mentioned deliberate omissions of plot details. The deus ex machina could have been completely omitted and the ending would actually have had more impact.

Overall its far from a bad book, but it could have been so much better and it is this that has left a slightly bitter after taste. I actually bought the whole series as it was on offer - I will read the next book and don't regret buying the lot, but my expectations have been lowered somewhat. Its a shame - its a clever book with good pace and decent prose, but its faults don't allow those achievements to shine as they should. Worth reading but don't expect a great book.