The book itself was essentially good, but I was expecting (from the blurb) something more horror with a touch of romance and instead I got romance with a touch of the supernatural. Compared with the Julia Grey series, this romance wasn't as solid and seemed to be based on little more than physical attraction - though this book had a lot crammed into only 300 pages. 
 The plot itself seemed to kick off and got very interesting about half way through the book but then suffered a relapse and went back to meandering about until about 50 pages from the end. That said, the book was very good and I really enjoyed it. Raybourn obviously did a lot of research for this; her descriptions are wonderful and the story is engaging. 
 --- After second reading --- 
 I think that I was able to enjoy this book more the second time around than I did the first time I read it. The first time around I was expecting a supernatural horror story; the second time I knew I was going into a mystery novel. 
 Raybourn's ability to create such a vivid atmosphere of middle-of-nowhere Translyvania, where the locals still cling to ancient superstitions, is admirable. I felt the isolatedness of the castle and the village oozing from the pages. I enjoyed the descriptions of the area - it sounds positively stunning and I would love to visit the Carpathians one day - and the local folklore was fun and interesting to read about. I only wish there'd been more of it! I adore Eastern European folklore. 
 There are some passages where the narrator is apt to rambling, the sheer length of them making it difficult to retain all the information they offer. The story is also somewhat slow in parts: this frustrated me last year but I was able to appreciate them more this time around. 
 Deanna Raybourn tries very hard to make her language the British English of the area. She misses some spellings - in particular in this book she often describes things as being 'medieval' instead of 'mediaeval' - but she does extremely well. Her style is not the most sophisticated out there but it is one that suits what I want from a book very well. It is her style that has cemented her a place as one of my favourite authors.