It's a pretty good fantasy-mystery with a bit of horror. It didn't grab me on one read the way some of his others have, although I'm not sure why. I should re-read it & see if I change my mind, but as I recall, I just didn't identify much with the hero. ( )

not just boring, but worse ... not funny: I really like everything I've read by Brust. Up until now that is. Where did the dark humor go? Is the Gypsy supposed to be the hero or "Step" or ... doesn't matter, I found them all unimpressive characters. I like to read authors I know and like, and when they go nuts writing something completely uncharacteristic it's like picking up a random book in hopes It'll amuse me when I wanted a sure thing. I consider my time wasted in the reading of this novel.

A cop gets entangled in an old gypsy story.

This book is all about the layers. Brust and Lindholm introduce us to a large and varied cast of characters, then feed us pieces of their story. Everything comes together via a series of brief scenes in which we learn who these people are, how they relate to one another and what their ultimate goal is.

I'm big on layered books. I love stories with a slow and careful buildup. It makes that wonderful point where everything crashes together all the more special.

The problem here is that nothing really crashes. Nothing really clicks. Instead of drawing me in, the bits and pieces pushed me out of the story and made it tough for me to really commit to these characters. No one gets enough screen time; by the novel's end, I didn't feel that I knew a one of them. I didn't really care about any of them, so I didn't invest very much in the story.

The plot is decent, but a great deal of the action is driven by a mythology I'm just not familiar with. That might not have been an impediment had the authors presented the gypsy lore in such a way that I could learn as I went, but I really don't feel that they did. Instead, I constantly felt like I was being left out of some big secret, something that would help me understand. Even the non-gypsy characters seemed to know more or less what was going on and what had caused all of it. I was out of the loop.

So to be honest, I kind of stopped paying a lot of attention and just coasted on through to the end.

It wasn't a bad book. As far as contemporary fantasy mysteries go, it's perfectly decent. But it's nothing special. I wouldn't really recommend that you rush out and find yourself a copy, especially since it's out of print and can carry a pretty hefty price tag.

(A slightly different version of this review originally appeared on my blog, Stella Matutina). ( )

this was a frustrating one.

i'd really been waiting for this book [well, for the opportunity to get to read it, anyway, since i've had it in my buffer of to-be-read books for ages] because i really like steven brust and really really like megan lindholm ... and for most of the time, i thought i was reading a book by charles de lint.

not that i don't like charles de lint, mind you - he too can be wonderful.
but it was like a strong déjà-vu: read that before. now it may very well be true this was written before some/most charles de lint books, but even so it felt like nothing new.

and also i'm really annoyed by the fact that the gypsy of the title was just sort of a sidekick. all mystical and powerful and too out of it to actually be at all interesting - or even human.

blah.

so: yes, i was disappointed, but no, it was not bad. it just wasn't ... excellent. ( )