Maybe its the mood I'm in, that needs cheering, that needs clarity and hope and mystery; maybe I've just read so many shitty books recently. Maybe I've been thinking of Gifts lately too.

But I finished this book with a deep sigh, like the crowd after Orrec finished his stories. I think this is the first time I've wished I could give a book 6 stars.

Such a lucid, radiant, marvellous book, full of anguish, and pain, and light.