It was pretty good, certainly very interesting fantasy - Canavan obviously has a taste for the 'rational'. I found it very difficult throughout this trilogy to manage the continual cutting from character to character, it seemed like every chapter (if not more frequently) began with the character you least wanted to go back to, having been through about 5 other characters' storylines since last reading about them. I also had a problem really caring about the people and the world, I'm not sure if there just wasn't enough description or if it was somehow unrealistic. Certainly I couldn't understand a lot of the characters' continued convictions (whether romantic - Reivan and Nekaun - or 'religious' - Auraya's continued piety).

I wonder if I missed out on some of the punch of the way it ended because I saw a lot of it coming, it seems to me that it's probably best for teenagers really. I enjoyed the ending, but I expect I might have been bowled over by it if I was a bit younger. That's all right though :)

I preferred The Black Magician Trilogy :P