I'm giving this one a 2.5...unfortunately Schwab fell into all the traps for a second book that make them nauseatingly painful to read. Not only were the rules established in the original book for the magic ignored, but this is also a transitional book. The first one had a full story arc, all the while leaving the door open for follow on books...this is not that. It is hardly a book, it is the long setup for the next book. Multiple story lines, multiple people, multiple scenes could have been deleted and we still would have had this intro to the next book. If it wasn't for how well the prose is written, not sure if I would have stuck with it....but then now I have to read the next book to get any closure...so...success????