It took me over a hundred pages to really come to grips with the writing style of this book, granted I've never read anything by dumas, so i was taken aback at how the book was written. In other words i wasnt expecting it since i had read nothing about the book or knew nothing of it. The book drags on and its a very tough read especially for the brust fans that love the taltos books. In the end though it was worth the struggle because the sequel, while using the same writing style, is a far superior story full of much more intrigue than this one. I say buy it used or borrow it from someone because this one is a hard read that i think many of brusts fans will give up on before they give it a chance.