A truly unexpected novel, and not the ghost story I thought it would be. There is the trauma Daria and Niki face when they live through a mass suicide/bad drug trip a decade ago, there is their love story fraught with Niki's schizophrenia and Daria's touring as a rock bassist, and then there comes the tale of the after life. All melded together with descriptive, flowered writing full of imagery and telling a story.

My rating of a 3 is a combination of my likes and dislikes of this book. For the writing alone, the crafting of the love story and Niki's illness and Daria's life, I would give it 4 stars. The imagery Kiernan creates and brings the reader to is a gift. But her pulling in an even more complex after life, and the influence from other beings who have their own agenda on this world, I give it 2 stars. There seemed to be no true, clear path to a resolution, only a lot of imagery and re-naming and journeying to an end that seemed more convoluted than story. ( )

4 1/2 star Review.
Although I have never really been one for reading of a series, I really LOVED this sequel to Silk, and found it could stand very well on its own. I am very fond of the beautiful language used, the most graphic and gory scenes were written out so that you find a dark beauty in it. The characters are unforgettable, I found myself routing for the Hierophant. The scenery was absolutely gorgeous, Kiernan created an entire underworld of monsters so well, that you have no idea who is evil and who is good as they are all so amazing.
I would have rated it 5 solid stars, except the ending came to such an abrupt halt, it felt un-finished. I knocked half a star off for that, although I feel foolish even doing so, because I feel greedy and selfish, the author has her own reasons for such an ending, I just walked away feeling a bit unsatisfied and unsettled- but I guess that is the point when you venture into this unknown genre.
This is horror fantasy at its greatest, and there is no other author such as Kiernan!
I place her high in the ranks of my favorite authors ever! ( )

Although it doesn't say it anywhere on/in the book, this is a sequel to 'Silk.' I've already read Silk, so that was convenient. However, this works perfectly well as a stand-alone novel. The events of the past are a significant, driving force to the plot, but they're explained, as necessary, as the book moves forward. The overall feeling is like that of real life, when one meets a person and significant events have already occurred in their lives. Fiction often fails to convey that; this succeeds.

I wouldn't say the book is completely successful, however. The setup is good - Niki is a disturbed, seemingly schizophrenic woman, taken care of by her frequently absent, rock star wife, Daria, who has her own problems. Niki cannot get past the horrific, supernatural events of ten years prior, and isn't sure if they are the product of her mental illness or not. As this is a supernatural horror novel, it's not much of a spoiler to say "they're not."
However, I felt that the fantasy world that ends up figuring in the plot wasn't as sharply drawn as it could have been, and the big showdown lacks the dramatic tension it had the potential for.
Still, I do like this writer. ( )

I enjoyed this book and very much liked the story. Unfortunately, I read it before reading Silk. I was able to follow the story and appreciate the characters (speaking of - that is one of the main reasons why Kiernan is one of my favorite authors - she expertly draws flawed characters and compels your empathy for them, even if you don't *like* them) and their roles in it, but I think the story and characters would have been richer if I had the foundation of the first book.

I'd like to give it 3.5 stars, and I really wish Amazon would enable such an option. My rating may change to 4 stars once I read Silk... ( )

I picked up this book because of Kiernan's fabulous and very creepy short story in Lovecraft Unbound, "Houses Under the Sea". This horror novel is disturbing and weird in the best way, and I can see why she is the Lovecraftian heir after reading it. The writing is beautiful and nightmarish but I'm not sure I followed all of the plot; then again, with the unreliable narrators (schizophrenics and alcoholics and other tormented people), I'm not sure it's supposed to be wholly figured out. The setting -- the real world and this Lovecraftian alternate reality -- are equally vivid and it's upsetting for everybody when they start bleeding together. This is a tough one to rate -- I wasn't hanging on every second (in fact, I put it down a few times and forced myself to pick it back up) because sometimes the internal narratives got too weighty and I didn't see how it all came together, but Kiernan's writing is so fabulous that I was constantly in awe. ( )