When the author signed my copy, he wrote "For Dan: a tale of sweetness and light".

He didn't mean it.

This is possibly the darkest, bloodiest, most unrelentingly depressing fantasy I've ever read, and I love it. I've read it six times. This probably says something not very flattering about me, but there you are. It also is beautifully written, thoroughly realized, and haunting. I can't recommend it highly enough, provided you've got a taste for the disturbing.

Which I apparently do.