Beautifully, intelligently written. ( )

This was a favorite book when I was teenager. I loved it because it was just so quirky.... the mix of old medieval, with the randomness of something modern (eg a photograph in a bedroom of a castle). I also like that it hinted at something so much bigger. Just why did Prospero give up his Sorcery. Are these people actually as old as its hinted at?

And on a re-read, it was just as much fun. I also discovered that there was so much that I missed (note, I wasn't a careful reader back in the day). The hint of something bigger with minimal explanations was just as mysterious, but the politics made the book a lot deeper.

Highly recommended. ( )

Meandering and discursive. This was described to me as a "fantasy of manners," but it doesn't fit my conception of that subgenre at all. Instead, it seems here to function as a synonym for "plotless and nearly pointless." ( )

Based around the same conceit as Zelazny's better known _Nine Princes in Amber_, this hovers somewhere between being a homage and a piss-take. A delightful, sane, humane story of a large family who dominate a huge sheaf of parallel worlds, much like the 'Amber' model, but with less conflict and wisecracking and more interesting characters. It's combination of familiar fantasy furniture and economics (the author once described it as 'Hamlet goes to business school') calls to mind Charlie Stross's later (and less interesting) 'merchant princes' series. ( )

A Well Rounded Book: Often fantasy books are full of fighting and blood, with very little character development. This book had some excellent scenes of conflict, but it also made you see the characters as people with needs, hopes, and ulterior motives. Even the hero is not always wonderful. Instead he ends up being one of the most likeable, human, and noble individuals I have ever encountered between the pages of a book. This might just be my favorite book of all time.