** spoiler alert ** 
 This was a great series. There are a few things that allowed it to edge out the Farseer Trilogy for me. The cast of characters was more ensemble, there was a lot of moving around to different locations and different view points which kept the story moving quickly. I love Fitz, but things can get slowed down via the amount of time spent on his inner processes. Both Bingtown and the Rain Wilds are interesting places with secretive sub-cultures and I really loved them as locales. Pirates. Sea serpents. Ships that talk. DRAGONS! How could I not love all those things? 
 The nature of the Liveships still felt a little convoluted. You kind of have to roll with the basic explanation and not over-think how it works, as once things start getting revealed the whole dual nature of them felt somewhat unclear/forced. 
 A couple of characters had really good development: 
 Brashen! I liked him fine in the first two, but always felt he was letting himself down a little. Happily, the Brashen I could see underneath comes out in full force here. 
 Malta. She is still a piece of work. But a fun one to read about now. 
 Kennit. I thought he would be going in a totally different direction in the first book, got frustrated with him in the second book as I started to feel that was unlikely, and then realized in this one that he is way more screwed up than I realized. Sad testament to how early abuse ruins lives. Repeatedly. 
 Wintrow kind of stopped feeling like Wintrow. But I suppose that was meant to be the result of what he endured. 
 I am so glad Althea is happy and well. 
 Ronica is still my favorite for being a classy dame 24/7 despite putting up with ALL THE SHIT. 
 And there was Amber, hurting my heart with all her 'this earring was a gift from my one true love' and that thing she did to Paragons face, and pretty much anything else involving her. *sniff*