Tempests and Slaughter (The Numair Chronicles, #1)
by Tamora Pierce
1.5 out of 5. I didn't hate this, but it is truly not worth reading. Tortall completists excepted... maybe.
The prose is Bad. How can you write so many books and have editors and still be so incompetent on a sentences level? "Aram was excited. This was exciting!"
I was shocked how long it was and how little plot it had. Plot threads (which are clearly just setup for the next book) start to show up maybe 60% of the way through. She tries to make it character-driven, but DWJ easily leaves her in the dust. I was trying to figure out what on earth Pierce was excited about writing in this book, and I think it might be as simple as, she wanted to write about a fantasy medieval university? Not enough to hang a book on!