I’ve always enjoyed fantasy books involving quests, and there is more than one in here.  This is a tale that takes its time, detailing every tiny detail and savoring it.  It is not even a long book, but there is a sense of it being told in what computer games describe as "real time."  Even when not much is happening the story sucks the reader in, and although the plot does not seem exactly groundbreaking there are certain aspects that belong to this series alone.  My favorite of these is where the story breaks off every few chapters for a minor character to tell their own story in their own words.  The rest of the book is told in the third person, so this has the effect of being more personal.  It is also a stoke of genius, showing a view of the world separate from the more dynamic and vital leading characters that I am surprised has not been used more often.  Ms Freeman has the gift of creating characters it is easy to care about, and a neat way with descriptions. The first book lacked cohesion, with the characters having nothing to do with each other until the end, but that is not true of the second volume and I am intrigued to find out how it will all end in Full Circle.