The Architecture of Desire

The summary above is adequate, but the reviews that have already been printed about this book don't do it justice, and the one-star review is simply unfair in a world where Terry Goodkind books get four stars. It's true that while this book features the main characters from the incredible Rats & Gargoyles, the world they live in has changed drastically. In fact, Gentle seems to have relocated them to a very different world, albeit one that shares some of the history from the first book. And yes, it's jarring at first, but so what? I read this book first out of the three stories about these characters, and it's a brilliant stand-alone book, as each of the other two is. The characters are flawed, haunted, appealing, and seductive, and the story is both heartbreaking and rapturous. I love this book; I liked it better than Rats & Gargoyles in many ways. It's more driven by character and less by fantasy. If you continue reading about the White Crow and Causabon, be prepared for another change in scenery in Left to His Own Devices; these characters seem to inhabit a shifting world, or perhaps Gentle sees them inhabiting more than one world, like Moorcock's Eternal Champion? Anyhow, I hope to see the collected White Crow on the shelves soon; it'll be a very good buy.