Okay, an unimaginable thing happened: I actually skipped paragraphs after the first half of the book. The writing is as great and engaging as ever, the humor just right and the world of the Broken Empire never gets boring. But me and Jalan just can't get along. I couldn't connect to the Kendeth at any point, thus he failed to engage me in his journey. I couldn't really care what happens to any of the characters, since their development fell a little flat. The transition to the flashbacks didn't work for me. It works pretty well in movies with visual effects etc. but in books it's just weird. Something felt really off with this book. It's hard to review it since I can't put my finger on it.