I read Sailing to Sarantium when I was in high school and loved it, tried one of his other works and bounced off. Fast forward 10 years. 

I’ve wanted to return to him since learning that he helped Christopher Tolkien arrange JRRT’s notes. I wanted to know what impact that had on his writing style–it is distinctly inspired by Tolkien, but (thankfully) not derivative of it. It’s very much written by a man 60 years younger, and it shows in the presence (and sporadic acceptance) of queer people, of sex scenes, of an attempt at racial diversity. 

It’s slightly too much plot in one book, and the ending is a little rushed. At the same time, there’s not enough plot for two books so I understand. Mostly interesting to see how he took what he learned from Tolkien and built on it, and inspired to do the same.