This is tough. There was so much promise in the first book, but this was such a let down. The stuff that I loved about the first book is absent in this one (if you know, you know). Without spoilers, this reads more like a historical war novel than a fantasy inspired by historical events. I don't care about military centric stories, and I don't want to read about a foot soldier. The timeline is unclear. The character interactions are minimal. There's not much good I can say, and that's why I'm DNFing. I was hoping to push through, assuming this was a sophomore slump, but it's just not going to happen, and I need to get it off my shelves.