I loved this series - and this book - it was great finally getting inside Dante's head! Carol Berg's "renaissance fantasy" writing isn't the usual straightforward, action filled, plot driven type you'd except of a fantasy book. I would describe it as smoother and quieter - with elegant prose (the quotes listed by other reviewers are good examples) and equisitely drawn characters (the better fleshed out main ones and even the more one-dimensional side ones surprise you). She definitely has a great understanding of the human psyche.

This is book 3 of her Collegia Magica series and in it we finally find out how Dante's been coping (or not) with his blindness and with Anne. And then follow him into trying to unravel another convoluted magical mystery of course. We spend more time with Ilario (although I would have liked more of the "Fool's" dialogue).

And despite sharing Dante's frustrations as he tries to make sense of what's going on, (and his various personal horrors) I found the story moving along at a good pace. The ending really sped up with a lot of switching back and forth between the different character's POVs (which I enjoyed - but it could have been little slower).

The ending itself was satisfying although I really didn't want it to end and wished we could have read more from each of the POVs and spent more time with them.... sigh. Anyways overall 5 stars for the series and this book.