I really enjoyed how Morgan's perspective was handled - especially the nods to the original stories. As a reader, you root for Morgan even if she is not always justified in her actions. In fact, I liked Morgan best when she was flawed, thirsty for knowledge and unapologetic, I wished sometimes that the author would've been more bold and playful with the protagonist's flaws.

However, I felt this book was not as tightly formed as the first in the series. Morgan's life at Camelot at the start seemed so contrived - her closeness with Arthur felt as superficial as the odd dislike of Guinevere. These early interactions did not really justify the later buildup to me. However, Morgan's "becoming" is very well handled, and I honestly cannot wait for her villain era in the third book.

This was great fun - I love an epistolary novel, and it's especially fun to read one in the various voices that made up the elite of renaissance art and politics. The mystery is fun, but it's really just a pretext to explore a slice of 16th century Florence. Catty Cellini was a delight to read, as was the friendship between Vasari and Borghini (I chuckled at their 2-day hangover), and of course, the perspective of the Master himself - Michelangelo - reigns supreme. I'd recommend this to anyone who enjoys gossip, mystery and art, wrapped up in irreverent letters.

I enjoyed the picaresque style of this, it has a lot of fun moments and I like the dynamic between Reynevan, Scharley and Samson. I've also enjoyed all the historical tidbits - you can tell Sapkowski just wants to tell us about the context of the Hussite wars (the plot is almost secondary), but it can get very dense. This book could really use a glossary of characters (and all the names they are known by), places and historical events, because it's very difficult to keep track of it all. I will persevere with the series though, because this is quite close to KCD2 (the game) in 'vibe'. It presents a medieval Europe that is colourful, bloody and quite irreverent, and if you can get over the hundreds of names, you can have a good time with it.