I have to admit that it's taken me a week or so to slog through this. I just couldn't get into it. I've read and liked the rest of the series, but increasingly, as it's gone on, it's felt over-stretched to me. Padded out, and this particular volume is where that tendency has reached its peak for me. 

It dragged. I liked parts of it, but mostly I'm glad to be done. I can't help but wonder if this would have been a better, tighter series if it had been edited down to end a couple of books ago.