Sally McBride

I received a copy of this book through Early Reviewers.

The basic setup of a medieval society with high-tech roots and people with extreme psychic powers calls to mind Darkover, but we don't see very much of it- the story is focused squarely on the characters and their somewhat ambiguous relationships and, in many cases, morals.

Unfortunately, the characters weren't enough to carry the story for me- I found them generally unlikeable except Nikkolue and sometimes Kael, and there were many times their motives or desires changed and I wasn't quite sure why. This was not helped by the fact that the story was heavily weighted towards introspection and interior monologue on the characters' part rather than actually showing their actions and interactions on screen up until the last few chapters, which were much more interesting and tense and had me wondering what was going to happen to the characters.

One SPOILER item ruined the goodwill the book had built for me, however- I didn't understand the point of the unwitting incest subplot. It was brought up and a big, horrifying deal for all of a few scenes, then other events distracted the characters, and the most affected character evidently came to not only accept it offscreen and also get over other problems in the relationship at the same time, leaving the relationship in tact for a bemusing happily ever after ending with the other person still unwittingly committing incest. What?… (más)