...This is a narrative concerning the fantastic unlike most books published today as fantasy fiction.  It resonates with the authenticity of genuine myth, bringing a deep, true sense of the past; a conviction which does not borrow from genre but mines our profoundest dreams and memories; the kind which give birth to myths.   As Ehart’s protagonist, the beautifully realized warrior woman sometimes known as Ninshi, tells us “Songs all end up right.  Life does not.” Yet, as she demonstrates, it is part of the human condition that we are forever striving to make things end up like the songs. 

            This novel demonstrates the difference between a good folk tale, a genre story and an enduring myth.  The genre story usually dodges the facts of genuine tragedy while the myth, or the story which retains the quality of myth, does not...