I did not have very high expectations, so I was pleasantly surprised; but I wouldn't say he is my new favourite. He is lovely at times, and then he goes and writes something silly which annoys me. I could kill him for his "subtle", and he seems to have some trouble with transitions.

I like how he presents and writes characters. They are wonderfully suggested -- a little perfect perhaps, but I don't mind since they are not simply two-dimensional. I think his handling of Ammar's past was a little weak -- he kept saying it was important and defining, but I never really felt it. I really liked Miranda, even if she was the traditional "strong woman".

His plotting. I was a little disappointed. It was so episodic, I expected him to compensate by drawing it together in a more impressive way than simply having them all show up at the same place at the same time.

I liked how he alluded to history without making a point of it -- it was there to be recognised if you did, but not forced on you, which I enjoyed. But I confess I was a little annoyed by how it ended in view of that. I won't pretend the 1100s in Spain is the period of history I know the most about, but I'd swear the Reconquista was not accomplished in one generation (1492, wasn't it?).