Unlike Canavan's great Black Magicians thrilogy and the fantastic world she had created there, The Rogue will be a disappointing read. It was for me. You will be forever expecting that plot-driving event, that unforeseen twist, the emotional event that will drive the story. Right up until the epilogue. This book doesn't go anywhere, it is filled with uninteresting characters, needless "romance" or something coming close to a "romance"..., worrying, complaining, and dilemmas that get resolved before they could really go somewhere and put the real plot in motion. Characters that are simply sketched up and are not developing further.
The homosexuality seems to be the focal point of the book. The new character we are introduced to in this book, Lilia, was pretty quick to find her homosexual nature, but the quantum leap in her personality development, from being pretty naive (almost stupid) to being a sensible and rational person is just too much to accept. The relationships are stale, predictable, boring, flat, and at this point I'm eagerly awaiting Regin's announcement in book 3 of his newfound homosexuality or that of his wife and why not him ending in Sonea's arms... In case she stops meddling about the past and his behaviour in their apprentice years though having proved his trustworthiness over and over again during the past 20 years (which covers the most part of their lives)...
Lorkin seems to be the main focus of this trilogy (if it can be considered as such), and the sum total of his involvement in this book can be boiled down to him making a choice that every reader expects, and the two scenes that directly relate to it. Don't expect any action. At all. Not the desperately emotional struggles against Regin from the first trilogy in this universe, nor the plight of Sonea and Akkarin against the Ichani.
Although it is a disappointing read, I am pretty interested in the outcome in the third book. Will surely buy it, but am definately not agog with anticipation for its release...