Fudge, I really, really loved this book when I first read it in high school. After I re-read C. S. Friedman's Coldfire Trilogy and found them just as good as I remembered, I hoped the same would happen for this book, but alas, instead of being absolutely amazing, it was just good instead. :P 
 Now that I'm more experienced a reader, I guess I could pick out the bad guy a mile away, what with the obvious foreshadowing. Still, very creative and interesting.