It's been a long time since I've read a fantasy - even a historical fantasy - so devoid of female characters. There are a couple here, but the attention given to them is so minimal that Kurtz really might not have bothered.

In fairness, this is a vast improvement on the first book in the series, which I thought dreadful in every respect. The dialogue is still clunky in a number of places, but I did like the political emphasis and the focus on the conflict between magic and religion. I read it for the same reason I read the first one... in an ongoing effort to read my way through the shortlist of the Mythopoeic Awards, but it's still not grabbing me I'm afraid. It just seems a very old-fashioned sort of fantasy, and not in a good way. Still, hopefully the last in the trilogy will continue to improve.