Despite multiple recommendations, It took me a very long time to pick up this book. However, I've heard a lot good things about the Patternmaster books and I enjoyed Octavia Butler's writing in Kindred, so I figured I'd give it a shot. 
 This is a difficult book for me. On the one hand, it hits so many of my "Oh, heck yes!" points for literature, but on the other hand... I don't know what I was expecting, but I was surprised by what I found. 
 This is not a love story. Or at least it's not yet. (that might change in later books, we'll see). It is, however, a story about a connection between two nigh-immortal entities. Anyanwu is great. I love that she is a mother, a healer, a lover, a builder, and a killer if necessary. I love that she stands her ground, holding fast to her beliefs about what is abomination and what is not despite Doro's incomprehension. 
 Insofar as Doro himself is concerned... I'm interested in what he becomes later on, because quite frankly he repulsed me. (Good character writing, by the way).