Once again I'm reminded of The Thief by Megan Whale Turner, but Gen is so much cleverer than Jaron. Jaron mostly just seems reckless, not nearly as brilliant as Gen, but then again, no character will ever be quite like Gen. It just isn't fair to compare him to anyone. 
 For a middle book in a trilogy this wasn't bad. It was exciting, seemed to have things happening that were actually of some importance, and even a bit of character development. 
 It was pretty good. I'm not sure why I feel like it fell short, but it just kind of felt... off, for some reason. The logic wasn't logical, and for a book that seems to thrive on clever thinking and planning... well, it makes it that much harder to believe any of it.