"Iorich" by Steven Brust (Fantasy Fiction)

I am a long-time fan of Steven Brust, however this latest edition to the "Jhereg" series, "Iorich" fell a little short of the mark for me.  I enjoy the fast paced action, well developed plot and characters, as well as the excellent dialog in his novels.  "Iorich" did have most of those qualities, but I found that it dragged on more than I would have liked.  Perhaps it was due to the mostly absent usual cast of characters, I'm not sure.  On the plus side though, this book got me thinking about how appropriate this series would be for middle and high school readers.  There isn't any sex or foul language in the book, and not even any overly descriptive violence.  The author even tries to incorporate social issues to get people thinking, which is great.