Not bad. Kate is a very complicated person with a very nasty life...not right now, during the book, mostly, but her backstory is of a very hard life. Which is (as she realizes) not nearly as hard as the normal life of many people in Glenraven... Anyway. A lot of philosophy, a _lot_ of action of various sorts, a sort of saving the universe (or two), very interesting characters. A rather surprising and almost pointless romance - it got to be important, but really it came out of the blue. And eyran has changed meaning since the first book, apparently. Oh yeah, and a possible second romance, but not until after the end of the book. A wild assortment of plots and tangles, from the scum church to the mysterious traitor. I figured out that it wasn't the obvious one - though not, until after I'd finished, why he was the obvious one - but not who it actually was until Kate and Rhiana figured it out. Very complicated, and I'm very glad I reread Glenraven before starting this - the story of that book doesn't affect this one much, but the worldbuilding in there helped a lot here. Several characters spend pages on self-pity monologues - but then they tend to figure out it's self-pity and haul themselves out of it (sometimes with help). Oh, and what happened to the book? Did it do its job and go pfft, or is it still somewhere, or what? A lot of questions left over, as I think about it, though as you're reading the action sweeps you along pretty fast. I liked the ending - it wasn't a simplistic Happily Ever After, or she makes a new life in Glenraven leaving behind all the sorrows of the Machine World... Glad I read it, I may reread. ( )