I really liked the first one in this series, but this one is so dull! It should be wrapping up the Portugal/Spain assassination plot with something cool but instead it's just basic political intrigue. All that time and effort expended in finding the journal, but they get nothing out of it that wasn't already exposed. Joaquin and Marina aren't depicted as any too bright either, you'd think they would keep better hold on it since they're supposed to know it's important. I lost track of the characters more than once, there's too many bit parts. We get a magical being out of nowhere, whose existence has never been hinted at, who has orchestrated Joaquin's appearance, and it knocks down the prison so everyone can be happy and then disappears. In the end, Joaquin and Marina are just not as interesting as Duilio and Oriana but the book spends most of its time with them, and we don't get enough magic use from the magic users to keep things moving.

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