Rating: 
Summary: a good read
Review: This is the first of what so far is a four book series. This is out of all four the best, though the others do not slack off on talent either. A Fiona Patton through these four books has managed to build and bind togethor a world that is at the same time belivable and fantastical, her depth of historical narrative and her ability to provide hitns and flaors of the past makes these books fascinating.The relationship between these charecters is also a must, in a world where the idea of Gender is orchestrated flawlessly and the idea of homo/hetro sexuality is not even blinked at the familial relationships and the resulting flaws and foibles of the charecters is engaging to the extreme. Read this, and re-read it again. BTW,
for a truly wonderful dialouge on historical philosophy check out "The Granite Shield"
Rating: 
Summary: A Solid Universe a Great Read
Review: This is the first of what so far is a four book series. This is out of all four the best, though the others do not slack off on talent either. A Fiona Patton through these four books has managed to build and bind togethor a world that is at the same time belivable and fantastical, her depth of historical narrative and her ability to provide hitns and flaors of the past makes these books fascinating. The relationship between these charecters is also a must, in a world where the idea of Gender is orchestrated flawlessly and the idea of homo/hetro sexuality is not even blinked at the familial relationships and the resulting flaws and foibles of the charecters is engaging to the extreme. Read this, and re-read it again. BTW,
for a truly wonderful dialouge on historical philosophy check out "The Granite Shield"
Rating: 
Summary: I GIVE UP!!!
Review: Well, I've tried three times now to finish it, and you know what? I have better things to do with my life. The idea of the gender-neutral society is cool, but when you're trying to keep track of charcters who mostly go by their last names anyway, a "Duchess," or "Lady" would be nice. (For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, in this land (Branion), all the titles are gender-neutral. I.e., when they say "Prince" or "Earl" or "Count," they're not necessarily talking about a guy.) Also, the pacing in this book is...wonky. I don't know if I can think of a better word for it. For example, one minute our boy is remembering a battle he'd had against his mother, and the next minute, we're "back to the future", and his mother is dead. There's no transitional sequence, nothing to indicate that all of this was a reverie... All in all, if you enjoy slogging through epic books with character clutter, then you'll enjoy this. I, on the other hand, am just going back to Dune, where things make sense.
Rating:
Summary: I GIVE UP!!!
Review: Well, I've tried three times now to finish it, and you know what? I have better things to do with my life. The idea of the gender-neutral society is cool, but when you're trying to keep track of charcters who mostly go by their last names anyway, a "Duchess," or "Lady" would be nice. (For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, in this land (Branion), all the titles are gender-neutral. I.e., when they say "Prince" or "Earl" or "Count," they're not necessarily talking about a guy.) Also, the pacing in this book is...wonky. I don't know if I can think of a better word for it. For example, one minute our boy is remembering a battle he'd had against his mother, and the next minute, we're "back to the future", and his mother is dead. There's no transitional sequence, nothing to indicate that all of this was a reverie... All in all, if you enjoy slogging through epic books with character clutter, then you'll enjoy this. I, on the other hand, am just going back to Dune, where things make sense.
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