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Rating: 
Summary: Wonderfully creative fantasy
Review: I fine myself reading this book over and over. The characters are all interesting and different from the main stream. But the use of language is the real pleasure here. In a few words much said.
Rating:
Summary: beyond compare
Review: If you like fantasy but find yourself cringing at the formulaic pap constantly churned out by Terry Brooks, Piers Anthony, or the various corporate-authored "series" such as the DragonLance(tm) [stuff]; if you delight in crisp, elegant language artfully juxtaposed with terse colloquialism; if you are tired of Tolkien-cookie-cutter worlds (without being tired of the master himself, of course) then I urge you to read this book. You will not be disappointed. Willey here displays style that successfully melds a lyricism and elegance reminiscent of Jane Austen with the grit, vision, and swirling plots of the late Roger Zelazny. (Nota bene: this book and its successor, The Price of Blood and Honor, are not separate tales -- as often happens, Willey's publisher apparently balked at the size of the proffered manuscript, and required her to split them.) The first 5 chapters can be read online at [URL]-- surely there is no better advertisement for the book itself. My only complaint? She hasn't written anything since finishing Blood and Honor!
Rating: 
Summary: If you like endless accounts of who will fight whom...
Review: This started out great, with developed characters, Prospero and his daughter, and an intriguing and powerful sorcerer. Unfortunately it became an endless exploration of who was on whose side, who was going to fight whom and why, and what the political consequences would be. Characterization is fine, but this is anything but "character driven." It's another exploration of an author's imaginary world. Well-written, but became too boring At about page 100, I skimmed to page 200 - no change, same things going on. I won't finish it.
Rating: 
Summary: Not like the first book at all.
Review: Which isn't a bad thing, just don't go into this book thinking it'll be like _The Well-Favored Man._ Willey goes back in time, long before Gwydion was born and Argylle transformed into the beautiful realm it had become in the first book.The tone is harsher, much more solemn, much more tragic. While I miss Gwydion's first-person viewpoint, Willey has a larger story to tell, and needs a grander canvas on which to paint it. I supppose this could be read on its own without first reading _Well-Favored Man,_ but readers of the first book will be nodding their heads, seeing the seeds of later conflict and entanglements sown here. It was also gratifying to learn more about the touchstones of this universe only hinted at in the first book.
Rating:
Summary: Not like the first book at all.
Review: Which isn't a bad thing, just don't go into this book thinking it'll be like _The Well-Favored Man._ Willey goes back in time, long before Gwydion was born and Argylle transformed into the beautiful realm it had become in the first book. The tone is harsher, much more solemn, much more tragic. While I miss Gwydion's first-person viewpoint, Willey has a larger story to tell, and needs a grander canvas on which to paint it. I supppose this could be read on its own without first reading _Well-Favored Man,_ but readers of the first book will be nodding their heads, seeing the seeds of later conflict and entanglements sown here. It was also gratifying to learn more about the touchstones of this universe only hinted at in the first book.
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