This book really is quite hard to get through. The book is extremely repetitive, which only really serves to drive the point home. The protagonist has been severely handicapped and abused. Apart from the sometimes quite visual and terrible abuses, one just about wants to tear one's hair out at the stupidity and incredibility of some of the characters. While trying in a quasi-psychological style to justify the behaviour of her characters, Kenyon really takes us for a ride: they're rather stereotypical and a tough sale to any sane reader out there.
For such a long read, the reward is rather poorly. I was left quite frustrated. I don't consider the book to be the worst of the worst (hence the two stars), because I was able to finish it and I liked the 'twist' with the main character, Acheron, rising to power and operating in our day and age. The interaction between the divine and our secular daily life was quite rewarding and the story was definitely more interesting in this second part of the book. But really... hundreds of pages preceding it just to let us know what a psychologically damaged kid our Acheron was, is just too much.
