So my love affair with the Kushiel series is well-known.

I legit can't believe this book is written by the same author. It's bizarre. Nowhere does the prose come even slightly close to anything else of hers I've read. The characters are whisper-thin, and the conflict is shallow. And no, it's not like I expected epic, lush worldbuilding and such (being urban fantasy, and the first in a series), but this reads like a first novel, period.

It's not a bad book; it's just weird for her. If you had handed me this book and anyone else's name had been on it, I would have given it one more star, but based on what I expect from Jacqueline Carey, I can't give it any more than 2 stars.