Review Detail

I love Maria V. Snyder. I just thought I'd start with that. All of her books are so amazingly well written, and they are all set in a world of fantasy, magicians, magic and romance.

All of the characters are fabulously well written. When I was trying to think of my favourite character, I had to think about it for a bit, i loved them all! But I think that my favourite character is Avry. She was not overly strong, but just enough so that she could pull through tough times. She was also incredibly stubborn and bright and determined. I could understand exactly what she was feeling the whole way through! I find it a bit irrtating how all of Maria's males have long hair, I suppose if they live in the wilderness then it makes sense, but (no offense to all those long-haired males out there) long hair on males just doesn't feel right. That's just minor though. Just my opinion.

The romance in Snyder's books is just perfect. It's not like the heroine is swooning over her to-be partner, in fact, at the start, Avry very obviously hates Kerrick (the guy who she eventually falls in love with). And her love develops over time, after getting to know him,unlike in some other books where the heroine just loves the guy because he's handsome, even though he is a cold bastard. No. Avry hates him at first, and then after getting to know him a little, develops a slow connection with him that she doesn't even identify until later.

I love how you can never expect what is going to happen. Sometimes, if I read a book where you always know what is going to happen, I get irritated and find it really hard to finish the book. This though, was changing and twisting all the time.

The writing style is brilliant, no doubt about that.

Every part of this amazing book is brilliant, and everyone should read it. The only thing I find annoying (it has nothing to do with the book) is that the next one comes out in 2013!!! :(

I definitely recommend this to everyone, and just while we're on recommendations, I definitely recommend you all to try Snyder's other books (she's written nine, and they are all amazing.)