The setting of "Passion Play" was enough to get me to pick up Beth Bernobitch's debut novel -- a sort of medievalish Renaissanceish Italy-Spainy kind of world. But there was also a lot in it that nearly made me put it down, ranging from the cliches of the fantasy genre to the flimsy storyline (which has more than enough time to flesh itself out). 
 Therez Zhalina is the daughter of a rich but unhappy merchant family. Then she meets the much older man that her father has decided for her to marry, and freaks out because he's even nastier than her father. So, like any rebellious princess, she changes her name to Ilse and runs away. Big mistake: she finds out that there are things that are much, much worse in this world. 
 She eventually finds her way under the wing of Raul Kosenmark, a castrati brothel-owner, and discovers that Raul is far more important and dangerous than he appears. He's forming his own "shadow court," and Ilse soon becomes wrapped in this world of court intrigue, secrets and shadowy magic... 
 "Passion Play" is a textbook example of a book that has lots of awesome ideas -- reincarnation as fact rather than belief, a Mediterranean fantasy world, court intrigue, a feisty heroine seeking her place in the world. But somehow... it just never gels into the brilliant Sherwood-Smith-by-way-of-Robin-Mckinley book it tries to be. 
 Part of this is because Bernobich never fleshes out her world quite as much as she could. There were so many parts of it that could have been explained just a LITTLE more, like countries and people never seen by the readers, and court intrigue conducted by proxies. Bernobich has the skeleton of an elaborate, earthy-yet-elegant plot in this book, but she isn't able to quite enthrall us with the flesh. 
 I will say that she has a talent for writing -- she's got a clean, warmly ornate style, and she doesn't shy away from the nastier aspects of her world, or the effects of running away (Ilse being nastily -- but not graphically -- raped by the caravan men). 
 And Ilse is a character who... is sometimes good and sometimes bad. Sometimes she comes across as a naive young girl who must stumble her way past her own traumas and fears; at other times, she comes across as a twentysomething woman in a teenager's body, who sometimes gains skills she shouldn't rightfully have. Kosenmark is a much more intriguing character, especially when we learn of his past. 
 "Passion Play" is a collection of intriguing yet undeveloped details that never quite gel into a satisfying book. Maybe Bernobich will improve with time, but this debut definitely has some beginner's flaws.