Whoever wrote the advertising blurb for this novel has a very, very different definition of "exciting" than I do. I wouldn't call it boring, but it's not a gripping page turner either.

We follow the main character, the fourth son of an emperor and a wife married as part of a political arrangement. After the emperor and everyone else in the line of succession head of him die in an "accident", our hero takes the throne. At which point, we follow him through clothing fittings, council meetings, and courtly life.

I hear you say "But, you put the word 'accident' in quotation marks. Surely there must be some investigation into what happened to the previous ruler." And there is, but it's not the focus of this story. Our main character has more important things to do trying to run a country. So all the mystery is handled off screen. And any connections between that mystery and the story we are reading only pop up once in a very long while, and are wrapped just as quickly as they appear.

This isn't a mystery. This isn't an adventure. This is a character study. This is watching someone play a game with morality choices, and see them attempt to pick the heroic paragon choice every time they can, regardless of how likely the choice made will screw up something down the line. Which is interesting, entertaining, and a breath of fresh air compared to the grim grittiness of darkness that a large quantity of fantasy has become recently.

It's just not what was advertised on the tin.