It gives the book a certain flavour that the protagonist almost always is the weakest. What also makes this book interesting is that it has no clearly defined goal, though that also makes the book a bit weird towards the end. One thing which I really liked was how much all the characters changed, always making new alliances and sometimes even switching sides and worldviews. This reflected the real world properly, better than most fantasy books I have read, at least. The protagonist sometimes also makes questionable choices, and the author does a great job of profiling his personal change and dilemmas. I also enjoyed how creativity and cleverness is viewed, portrayed at least as powerful as magic.