Joshua Kronengold

Heh. Any time you want to get the swordfighting crit before publication rather than after, let me know -- I'd be happy to.

Actually, while I did have problems picking up the book before I got to the "theft" scene (noting that some of these were my own attention deficit issues, and that I -did- finish the book in all of two days), my bigger pacing issues were towards the end of the book. I wouldn't describe the final sequence as "rushed", really, but I did feel that it was the coolest part of the novel, and the part where the plot really got moving, so it felt like it should have been a greater percentage of the book. I mean, in there you have what? Val getting over a rather -nasty- drug addiction (as much as one gets over such things -- something I very much liked, btw, was how the addiction angle was handled, but I did think the recovery was a bit too fast), the confrontation and "outing" at Belvedere (or in the ramble? Not sure exactly where what for want of a better word I'll call the "wild court" is in real world terms), the break in and discovery scene, the standoff and near-death scene, an all-to-brief family reunion, a chase to the wilds of New Jersey (um, the unseelie court was in NJ, right? If a real world location was given in this novel, I think I missed it.), a capture by the unseelie court, a Court confrontation (with obligatory, but cool, cameo descriptions of beloved characters from Tithe), a somewhat unconventional duel, a rescue, and a pair of summing up scenees? And this all happened in something like the last 50 pages?

Still, as harsh a critic as I sometimes am, it's a -very- enjoyable work.