Now that I have finished this story, I have to say that I am a little bit disappointed. We had some character growth in characters like Geder and Cithrin, but that is it. I was expecting a big part of the this novel to focus on the Spider Goddess and her plans to take over the world and the was nothing. Not even a hint of anything new. The story itself carried on where we left off, but in all honesty, it kind of just mosied on down the river, picking up some small insignificant character story arcs to tell, but all in all, when we think about it, we haven't progressed a huge amount with any of the (what I expected to be) main storyline. 
 It is still a well told story, I really do like the way Abraham crafts his words, he is certainly by no means a lazy writer, but his pace can be a tad slow at times 
 I know there is another two books to go, so my expectations are much much higher for book 3 now.