Black Library's fantasy books have always been a poor cousin to their science fiction, and this book is no exception.

The book suffer more from poor editing than poor writing, in that what is presented is closer to a first draft than a manuscript.

The story itself suffers principally from poor point of view choices by the author, something that should have been picked up before I ever saw it.

Of the great love between Vlad and Isabella Von Carstein we learn nothing. We barely see these two characters at all, although the book is ostensibly about the Von Carstein line.

Vlad and Isabella feature little in the book, and share very little dialogue and no conversation with each other. The book ends up being dull as a consequence, with too much time given over to irrelevant threads that lead nowhere.

Thoroughly unsatisfying. I won't be bothering with the other two books in the trilogy. ( )