I like the main characters a lot. I will admit I have a weak spot for the type that is first presented as one thing and then turns out to be more subtle, and I think that is a good description of all three. They are not revolutionarily innovative characters, but I like to read about their type. They appeal to my imagination. Character crushes galore.

Ammar ibn Khairan. I like the type. When I first read about the Day of the Moat, I interpreted his earlier smile at Jehane's comment that Husari ibn Musa might die in the courtyard as an indication that he knew what was coming. I was disappointed. I am glad he did not know. Or, at least, I choose to take his word that he did not know. I do not believe Jehane's father would have been so friendly with a man who would do that. I also loved how he showed up in that window and quite sensibly killed the steward. I have great confidence in him.

Jehane bet Ishak. She surprised me when she kissed ibn Khairan back. I was steeling myself for huffiness and was pleasantly surprised. She had already struck me as generally sensible and competent, but too many authors slip into the trap of confusing anger with strength and I was worried.

I was also surprised to find her father alive. I have noticed already that Guy Gavriel Kay delights in hinting at great events only to explain them more fully later on: what happened to Jehane's father after the birth, what catastrophe happened at the beginning of Alvar's ride south, what made the Day of the Moat so notorious and probably more that I cannot think of right now. I like it. I am glad Ishak is still alive, and I am glad he is returning to life, although I find it strange that it is ibn Khairan's voice that would do it, not his daughter's. It is either an exciting indication of something intersting or a little sad.

I am baffled by her approach to medicine, however. I wonder to what extent that is based in actual medieval medicine. It seems very strange and I don't think I have ever heard of this obsession with urine before. Her conclusions seem to be good enough.

Rodrigo Belmonte. I like that he can be that cool without having to be a proposed romantic interest for Jehane (which I fully interpret ibn Khairan as being), and that he is safely tied to a, by all accounts, interesting woman. I really hope she is not killed off in punishment for his having fought those horrible people in Orvilla. It will make me very upset: heroes tend to be either fighting towards a woman's love or in revenge for a woman's death -- I like that he is currently doing neither. It is refreshing (that said, I will probably be outraged on his behalf and fully support a vendetta if that happens -- it is strange to write publicly about what I have read without having read the rest of the book yet).

Having never read the book before, but based on the blurb on the back of the copy I am reading, I assume Belmonte's intervention in Orvilla will lead to him and his band being banished. And that he will meet up with ibn Khairan (and Jehane) in Ragosa (three guesses what brings ibn Khairan there, although I hope he has other reasons, too).

I like how the world plays with something along the lines of the Reconquista without apparently committing to it. It certainly affects how I imagine the world, and I find that I draw quite extensively on my earlier images of the golden age of the Moors in Spain. I like how he has arranged the religions, as well: all appear to be worshipping celestial bodies of one type or another (and the two moons highlight the distancing from our world).

I cannot help wonder whether he chose the name Esperaña to signal only Spain with a difference, or whether he also intended the meaning of "hope" which that change connotes in Spanish. Or whether that is just me again. Sometimes, I find, it is just me.