I do love fantasy that springs some surprises, and although a lot of this is fairly standard sword-and-sorcery fare, I enjoyed the dragonfly swarms. Fantasy must be judged more on its creator's ability to create believable worlds that work than on anything else, and this one works well. We are on familiar territory with the classic tale of a country lad who appears suddenly to have magic, power-hungry clerics and demonic deities. But again with fantasy "it ain't what you do it's the way that you do it" was never more true and this is done well. What pleased me even more was the lack of purely good or evil characters; here are a very gray bunch of more believable folk with failings, virtues and vices. What pleased me most? The modest length of the novel; it is far too small to use as a doorstop, unusual for a fantasy. I look forward to book two.