In terms of characters and diversity, this book knocked it out of the park. From Lina growing to fill her role as Queen to betrayal of characters to each other and scheming and manipulative nature of others, there is a lot of really great variety in character personality and motivation. 

The story itself was alright. After finishing Priory of the Orange Tree, it was a bit more difficult to focus on. There were no bad aspects of the book, there were some really great moments throughout that I really enjoyed, it just wasn't my favorite.