Warning! Some may find this book to be, in a word, dry. Having never read historical romances before, I can confirm that some parts seem very, very dry. However! I say the same thing about the Jedi Consular story in Star Wars: The Old Republic and it is one of the class stories I really liked. (You probably have no idea what I'm talking about, just smile and nod.) 
 There wasn't as much assassinating as I would have liked, but Ismae kept me entertained enough, from the court intrigue to spying (come on, sometimes not all eavesdropping pays off! It was realistic and I liked that). Ismae and Gavriel are great characters, but I'm not sold on them as a couple (like how I loved Chloe and Oliver as characters in Smallville but hated them as a couple). 
 The only quibble I have was how dense the Reverend Mother seemed to be. She took everything that everyone else said as fact except Ismae and would fluff it off as Ismae being an inexperienced child. Excuse me, lady, but there's this thing called context and oh, you're not even there so you can't possibly see the entire picture clearly. Chancellor Crunard sends a vague letter and the next thing you know, the Reverend Mother is ordering Ismae to willy-nilly assassinate people without any proof or facts. Luckily Ismae realizes this and gets Gavriel's mother and brother to redeem themselves without having to kill them and then Ismae flat out ignores the order to kill Gavriel. When Ismae points out to the Reverend Mother that the true purpose of the knife she was given is mercy killing for the dying, the Reverend Mother gets all snooty and uppity, saying it was obvious, except the girls at the monastery are never taught that! The Reverend Mother also gets jealous that Ismae has seen Mortain and she hasn't. For such a small character in the grand scheme of things, the Reverend Mother (who doesn't have an actual name) is a really annoying piece of work. She almost seems like a villain. 
 Sorry, I have another quibble. So many people in this book plot against the Countess and never, not once, does a marque appear on them, yet Ismae is expected to kill people that the Monastery deems traitors, marque or no marque. What, why, how, THIS MAKES NO SENSE. Either Mortain is really fickle or the marques are a ruse to prevent the daughters of Mortain from killing whoever they want. Y'know, like Santa Claus and children. 
 Although Sybella annoyed me, from what little I saw of her, I'm considering picking up Dark Triumph.