Just finished the book... It's good. I think it may be one of Cook's strongest in recent years. My only complaint is that it is a lot to digest. It was a slog, but a very rewarding one. I had a hard time keeping the minor characters straight, let alone the details of the geopolitical situations. I feel, and hope, that it's the type of book that will reward a repeated reading or two. I got the feeling the Shippen was analogous to Sicily. In the beginning of the book the geography was a puzzel - by the end, it still was. The were references to Calzir's "toe" and "heel", much like we refer to Italy as a boot. And there was a reference to crossing from Shippen to Calzir's "toe". Toward the end, I got the feeling that the "real world" was used as the basis for the geography of the setting. Just the names and borders were changed for the setting. John Grim213@aol.com wrote:

I totally agree with the Mother Sea mirroring our Mediterranean. The only place I'm having a hard time pinning down is this huge island of Shippen. Perhaps it a big piece broken off of North Africa. The references to the reduced city of Caltium Cidanta (p329) sound suspiciously like Carthage, located in modern-day Tunisia, and there are references to an important Strait nearby (strait of Gibraltar?)

Anyway, Dreanger is pretty clearly a version of Egypt, with its dynasties, ruins, Upper and Lower Kingdoms, etc, which would make Ambonypsba (home of that great coffee!) Ethiopia. And Suriet is obviously Judea, home of the Jews (er...Deves).

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