I liked this a bit better than the first one. The writing is still clunky in spots, but less so than the first. Some of the sections with Richard were quite good, but I think the other characters don't feel quite so natural. The bad guys still seem pretty one-dimensional, though at least they've moved on from "Fire bad! I like raping little boys!". Speaking of which, rape is definitely an overused trope in this novel. It seemed like all men ever wanted was to rape women. Also, the women are weak thing seems ill developed - supposedly Kahlen is and has been the most powerful figure in the land, but every time she does anything everyone is like "you're just a girl. Girls can't do that".