I finished [b:The Golden Key|257333|The Golden Key|Melanie Rawn|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51EKW8AXVML._SL75_.jpg|16050], after more than a month. It's the not fault of the book that it took me so long (although it is almost 900 pages and spans 400 years). Because there were days-long periods of time between readings, I don't know if my perceptions are that accurate. But I thought I could "feel" the differences in the sections that were written by each of the authors ([a:Melanie Rawn|8661|Melanie Rawn|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1223871368p2/8661.jpg], [a:Jennifer Roberson|8659|Jennifer Roberson|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1223871478p2/8659.jpg], and [a:Kate Elliott|8660|Kate Elliott|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1234969697p2/8660.jpg]). The middle section of the book was my favorite, and, to me, it seemed to flow the best, but again, that could be because I read most of that without long breaks in-between.

I have read other books by each of these authors and liked them a lot, so it's not surprising that I gave this book 9/10 on m personal rating scale.

What I liked: I found the system of magic to be original and unusual. Most of the characters were people I ended up caring about. Although there was an inevitability about the conclusion, it was satisfying and there were enoguth twists and turns along the way to keep it from being too predictable.

What I didn't like: I still am confused about the power of the Grijalva Gift vs. the power of the magic. I would like to know more about how the Tza'ab used the magic vs. how the Grijalvas used it. And the similarity of names used through the years, while very appropriate to the setting, made following the story challenging at times.

Let me finish by saying that I know this book was meant to be followed up by 3 volumes, each written by one of the authors of this book. That plan apparently was scrapped years ago, but perhaps some of my questions would have been answered if those books had been written. ( )

Sorcerer-painters frolic in a pseudo-Renaissance Italian city-state. The three authors split the book into three sections, and I liked each section about as much as I like each author. The first section felt repetitious and redundant; the second section combined candy-colored central characters with the wonderfully Machiavellian maneuverings of the villainous protagonist; and the third section was good but marred by wrapping up all the threads introduced in the first two sections. All together, it was...eh. ( )

You know what? I give up.

The first section is terrible. It's boring and it is so goddamned repetitive. 300 pages could be condensed to half that.

I got a bit into the second section. Much better written (in that I don't get the same three plot points every twenty pages), but I was still bored.

And I have many other books I could read and hate and be done with in the same amount of time.

To the DNF pile! ( )

I read this way back in the late 90s and found it absolutely fascinating. Hope to reread it some day when there's more time:) Definitely a must for fantasy fans and possibly quite appealing for historical fiction fans too. It has that kind of feel to it. ( )

Recommended by Carolyn at Chris Shuda's wedding, November 2017