Review: Great multi-layers, multi-plots
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 29, 2012
This excellent book, and other Ashling books, is for a "thinking" reader. I don't have the correct words so this will have to do: it requires an "interactive" reader. There are multiple plots and multiple layers to each of those. Nothing is spoon-fed and happenings are not easily foreseen. Chapters are long and contain pieces of the different plots. Mood, pacing and voice changes are fascinating and it's hard to put the book down for any reason.There are maps of the lands, the routes taken, the happenings of a battle. A battle you can actually follow!It's an epic fantasy, a comedy in places, an intrigue,  ... or is it a political romp or a gay or erotic book? It has some of the features of each, but the whole truly is greater than the sum of the parts. It all fits together beautifully. The term "epic fantasy", used by Absynthe in a recent review, most accurately captures the complete bookThe vocabulary is huge. I can't remember how many words I googled ... * chagrined smile * ! Andrew just uses them like everyday words we'd all know.