I wanted to like this book but it was entirely too long with too many distractions and it didn't finish the story. Introducing the antagonist 61% of the way in to a 1000 page book…cmon! Rather than a half dozen plot lines it should have stuck to one or two and told more of the story. Parallel books in the same universe would have been a better approach. I honestly feel cheated by the ending and disinclined to start the next volume.