An amnesiac gypsy and a hard-boiled cop work at cross-purposes as they struggle against the Fair Lady. Well-written but unmemorable entry in the "dark urban fantasy" genre. Oddly, half the cast is self-consciously archetypal; I found it difficult to dredge up empathy for characters without humanity. ( )

I love books by Brust and Lindholm, but this one just came off as bland and longwinded. ( )

Was a slow read. Hard to identify positively with the characters as they were made real and unreal at the turning of a page. Time, place and story were mutating as you progressed through the book. Each character had several identities that were not clear as to which were which. And powers/abilities were not set for any except the villain. ( )

The first portions of the book feel like being caught in an Autumn Windstorm of book leaves, each with a disconnected fragment on which you start to notice the continuing bits of different views. I don't think the story was sufficient to remain interesting if told as a straight narrative, but since the characters are often in as much confusion as the reader the approach isn't arbitrary. As a fan of both Steven Brust and Megan Lindholm/Robin Hobb I wouldn't push this on fans of one or the other. ( )

This story, based heavily on Hungarian folklore, has a dreamlike quality that some may dislike and that takes it a little out of the standard light-reading fantasy category. I found it fascinating once I caught on, and expect to enjoy it more with a second reading now that I know what to expect.