This was very good. I'm glad I stuck with it. It seemed to drag in many parts - could have probably lost a couple hundred pages to editing and been better for it - but that's my only complaint. It's much more enjoyable than the second book. In this book, Fitz has a problem arise, he deals with it, and then he goes on until the next problem happens. It's a much more heartening pattern than what felt like endless problems piling on top of each other in the second book. And then at the end, it's a very complex, interesting situation - but (eventually) well-explained, so you don't go away all confused.