The first book in the series was a surprisingly good journey tale and character study, in which you could see the protagonist slowly grow over the course of the book. This one is a more of a war story, and I get the feeling the author understands journeys more than she does war. I love the characters but the plot is a series of one deux ex machinas after another. Every problem is dealt a handy solution out of nowhere and it spoilt the connection I'd built to the characters. And yet, the first book had made me love them, so I gobbled this one up, even if I didn't enjoy parts of it. 
 Also, even in a fantasy novel, giant flowers can't manage to be cool.