I wanted to love this book, because I love pretty much everyting McKinley puts out. I love her style and her imagination. No matter how much I tried, however, I couldn't really get into the story. At the beginning I thought, just wait, you'll get into it. Halfway through I finally hit a good patch ... and then things went downhill again. A couple of times I thought, hey, this has been done before, and then I realized yes, in The Hero and the Crown, and The Blue Sword. The writing drags and I don't understand the choices Sylvi makes. Why can she not simply talk to her father, the one human she loves and trusts the most? Just sit down and talk to him. Everything solved, no angst. I'm wondering if I want book two to tie things up (I was pretty mad at where the book ended) or if I don't care.