content: When I read a Mercedes Lackey book I expect to care about what happens to *someone* in the book. There was no one here who was 'real' enough to care about. The people all felt like shadows, without true substance (or reasons) to their actions. I couldn't find reasons to cheer for anyone. One problem is there were too many people to follow easily. Since there were so many none of them were drawn richly enough to draw me into their world.