This was a solid book from ICE. The writing is a lot smoother than the first two books in the series and he had to take some time to grow into the writing style. In book one, the story is fun and a good introduction, but it lacks the depth of the Malazan world-building and giant cast of characters we see in Erikson's books. Book two was just all over the place and the structure was so disorganized. Finally, ICE has really improved as a writer with Stonewielder. The ending wasn't quite as epic as Erikson's but this book sets up the rest of the series nicely.