A Betrayal in Winter

Executive Summary: Another solid entry in this series, though maybe not quite as enjoyable as the first book.Audio book: Much as the first book, the narration is fine, but not spectacular. Fewer annoying voices than the first book at least.Full ReviewThis books starts with a time jump, which I always find tricky. The passage of time can have an important impact on a story. Characters mature, events are put in perspective, plans put into motion. In short: things change. I'm not always a fan of big time jumps, but Mr. Abraham seems to do a good job of it. We're initially not privy to what the characters have been up to for the last 8 years or so. We discover these things over the course of the book without ever having flashback scenes. That makes me think the time jump was justified.I found things maybe a little bit slower in this novel than the first one. It took a bit of time for Mr. Abraham to get the pieces in place to finally get the ball rolling, but I never found myself uninterested.Very few authors can write a sort of everyday life kind of story without boring me. [a:Robin Hobb 25307 Robin Hobb https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1397885202p2/25307.jpg] is incredibly good at this. I think Mr. Abraham is as well. That said, it's the kind of story that can easily turn people away. Once again there is very little magic or action. Almost no fighting at all.Everything is politically based. There are hints of a possible war on the horizon, but no armies are being mustered yet. I'm hopeful that based on where things stand at the end of this novel, should make for some pretty interesting developments in the next one.The characters are once again examples of shades of grey. Most are dealing with internal conflicts raging over what course of action they should take. The world he built in the first novel wasn't really expanded much here, but it was refined a little. We get to see the politics and violence of a succession in more detail.Overall I think anyone who enjoyed the first book, will enjoy this as well. While anyone who found the first book lacking, won't likely find this book any better.I had the third book all downloaded and ready to go, but unexpectedly got distracted by another book. I will be coming back to this series very soon though.