** spoiler alert ** 
 I wanted to enjoy this book as much as I enjoyed the last one, but I really didn't. This is because I was expecting a lot more EPIC FIGHTING and a lot less boring politics crap. I don't dislike boring politics crap all the time, of course; I just get ridiculously disappointed when I expect physical action and get people talking instead. Feh. 
 Anyway, many of my complaints regarding the last book still stand, and even those that didn't at first came back to haunt me. I am honestly convinced that Brett doesn't understand how women work. Every one of them, every single one, is obsessed to the point of distraction by getting married and having babies. Even Wonda, (SPOILERS FOLLOW), who dresses like a man and is said to fight better than most of the men in Cutter's Hollow, ends up with one of the Krasians for a short time. It's only mentioned obliquely, but, damnit, I wanted her to be either completely uninterested in relationships of any sort, or a damn lesbian. (Except I have a feeling that lesbians can't exist in any of the cultures in his world. The wimmins, they must have babehs!!!) And then, to make matters worse, Elona decides to point out to Leesha at one point that all of a woman's real power comes from sex. That's right, everything a woman is capable of is worthless unless she puts out. Oh, and Renna. There are many things that make me happy about Renna, but her obsession with her being "promised" to Arlen fourteen years earlier and how she waited for him all that time is just plain ridiculous. For the love of fuck. Somebody needs to explain to Brett that a world can exist where women aren't thought to be worthless. And then they need to teach him how women work. Argh. 
 AND RANT OVER. Anyway, plot and things. So despite the author's best attempts, this novel ends up being ridiculously predictable. The coreling princes are killed by the two separate Deliverers, yup, saw that coming. Arlen returned to Renna and promised himself to her, totally saw that coming. Leesha didn't actually marry Jardir, big whoop. One of Rojer's prospective brides wasn't a virgin, how terrible! And so on and so forth. The only surprise in the entire book was that Jardir genuinely seemed to adore Leesha, which doesn't make sense because he hates his wife's power over him. 
 I was increasingly annoyed by the repetition of things that happened in The Warded Man. I didn't mind so much when Brett was going over things from another point of view, but when he stared talking about how Wonda's face got scarred and stuff like that, I just wanted to scream. We're adults, Brett, we can remember stuff that happened in a previous novel. You don't need to explain it to us all over again, okay? Okay. 
 Then there's the mind demons. I was really excited about them! But we only got two brief battle scenes that included them, and the rest was just the drones as usual. Yawn. I hope there will be more princes in the next one, and that they'll be more interesting than these guys. I also can't decide whether or not I liked the parts from the princes' points of view. They were interesting? But I think a better writer could have done the story without them. 
 Now, Jardir: can I just mention how much I dislike the son of a bitch? Because I really, really do. Oh, I understand where he's coming from, and that he's a product of the culture Brett created, but that doesn't mean I have to like him. I especially don't like him as the Deliverer, particularly the part where he's forcing his culture on all the northerners, or the part where he literally won't let anything get in the way of his goal to be the Deliverer, and also filters everything through his belief that he is the Deliverer. He can do no wrong! Everam guides his steps! I can't help it, guys, religious zealots make me sick. 
 Meanwhile, I both love and hate Inevera. All I'm going to say about her is that if she doesn't turn out to be a real villain I'm going to be incredibly disappointed. 
 Arlen's character still seems to be all over the place. On one hand, he's The Warded Man, killer of corelings and possible savior of the world! On the other hand, he's still a scared little boy when confronted by his past. On a third mysterious hand, Arlen meets Renna and suddenly he feels human again, and will even promise himself to a girl he hasn't seen for fourteen years and has been traveling with for a few days. Oh, and the return of his accent when he went back to the Brook was really distracting. Meanwhile, he's slowly turning into a demon and keeps thinking about going to the Core with all of the corelings during the day. Except he won't, because, and I quote, "What could the embrace of the Core offer that hers could not?" Man, Brett needs to learn how to write romance if he's going to insist on putting so much of it in his novels. 
 Now, Renna. Oh boy. I am all over the place with her. First of all, WOO on the killing Harl thing! I liked that she went into shock afterwards, but it was ridiculously trite that she suddenly snapped out of it as soon as she saw and recognized Arlen again. Oh, and she's a born demon-killer, but she'd totally be willing to give it up if she could just be Arlen's wife. Because, you know, being a wife and mother is way more important than killing corelings. On the other hand, there's the born demon-killer part. Damned if she wasn't kicking ass after Arlen showed her the wards and taught her to fight. And hooray for the fact that she won't take Arlen's bullshit like some people would. 
 I don't really have anything to say about the rest of the characters. Leesha is kind of a droll superwoman, but otherwise boring; Rojer and Garet are pretty forgettable; the rest of the Karsians are caricatures; and Abban is, well, a merchant. Whatever. 
 Still, despite my many (and varied!) complaints, I won't lie and say I'm not going to read the rest of the books as they come out. This isn't great literature, and as long as I keep all these downfalls, it's thoroughly enjoyable. Anyway, I'm really interested in the magic system and the Hive. Bring it on, Brett. I haven't run out of rants yet.