This was a really enjoyable book. An epic tale with not a small amount of the erotic thrown in. The pace never ebbed nor flowed too quickly in any spots; the personalities were almost all 3 dimensional and true to life; and dammit, I guess I have to say now that I enjoy Fantasy series. I really enjoyed seeing through Phedras eyes, and certainly saw what Hyacinthe was up to before she did. I very much hope to see him again, and considering his new role I'm sure we will. I'm so excited to start the next one... darn, I hope it's on the shelf. I bought this one from Amazon rather than wait out the hold list at the library.

I saved it from being 5 stars simply because some characters, Alcuin one, were a bit too perfect. You could attribute this to the narrative being written from a perspective in the future and Phedra remembering him with rose-colored glasses... still. Also, just out of anger for her not ending up with Hyacinthe. Petty?, yes. Whatcha gonna do about it?