I debated giving this three stars, but the writing is too well-done for three. But truly, I did not like having a new character be my eyes and ears for such long portions of the book without understanding who she was or why she was there. There's mystery and then there's just...confusion. And I felt confused a good portion of this story. And I skimmed more than I should have to truly rate 4 stars. Some of this I blame on myself. I do not like long, battle-strategy scenes. And there are many of those. But I did like most of the final-final ending, even if I didn't fully understand all the complicated parts of it.