Best reads of the past month: The Sharing Knife: Legacy by Lois McMaster Bujold I was really looking forward to this sequel and was happily anxious to hear it picked up right where Beguilement left off. Unfortunately, it didn't quite live up to my expectations. The problem was simple--nothing ever happened. They traveled here. They were ostracized there. Dag went to fight malices over here. Fawn sat around trying to blend in over there. There was none of that exquisite tension that propelled the first book forward. The two main characters seemed so tired and, well, apathetic about the whole thing that I couldn't help but feel the same. The thing is, the writing is so good. And the characters are as well. They just weren't present this time around and I missed them. It felt like the Spark and Dag I loved were being impersonated by slightly lackluster simulacra. But. The ending did leave me with the distinct feeling that the real deal would be back in the next installment ...