Elizabeth W. reviewed on 9/25/2007 + 40 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 4

A departure from her Angels of Samarra world, this book started slow but ended on a promising note. Raises interesting questions about the responsibilities that come with great power but unfortunately does not answer them in any satisfactory way. The usual Shinn romantic twist was to me unconvincing and I was very dissappointed that the radical feminist trajectory that has overtaken much of fantasy literature these days seems to have infected this series. Shinn writes here like someone with an agenda -- which is not something I have ever noticed in her previous works. In the main, the problem is that the magical group of people -- mystics -- are feared and reviled by some segments of the population because they have powers that seem uncontrollable. But then, all the mystics in the book act in ways that lead me to believe that the general population was right to fear them -- the mystics seem to consider themselves a law unto themselves and I was never convinced that they would acknowledge any moral standards or authority beyond their own wills and their own beliefs of right and wrong. Very problematic. Luckily, the next book in the series (The Thirtheenth House) gains a little moral complexity and was more palatable.

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