Yeah, Orso said it best, I think: Leo is a man with absolutely no sense of humour. As far as viciousness goes—he definitely does become very ruthless in this book. However, cold-blooded opportunism is no substitute for actual intellect and he still lacks Glokta's incredible patience. At your point in the book, Leo has still operated in much the same way as he always did before (aggressive, egotistical power-grabbing justified with Ferro-level mental gymnastics), only with words and politics instead of swords and warfare. It does make me wonder how Glokta would've handled all this, though. And what kind of internal commentary he might've had for the Breakers' posturing and the Burners' violent insanity.
