Like his earlier Tyrants and Kings trilogy, John Marco"s The Eyes of God uses the equipment of heroic fantasy to write moral fictions in which gods, sorcerers and monsters dramatize ethical choices. The second-hand quality of much of his invention is largely redeemed by the seriousness of his storytelling; he is a writer in whose books actions have consequences, often terrible ones. A king trusts his betrothed to the most honourable knight in his kingdom and love destroys all three; a desire not to hurt becomes a choice to deceive and anger at deception becomes gratuitous sadism. Young King Akeela starts his reign as a peacemaker and ends it as a monstrous tyrant who wastes his treasury on foreign adventures; the frivolous young princess Cassandra sacrifices her feelings for her people and destroys all around her. The knight Lukien tries to atone for adultery by finding the talismans that will save Cassandra from the disease that is killing her, and becomes, through circumstances he should have foreseen, murderer and thief and exile. There is an intense sadness to much of this which more than balances the pastel prettiness of some of the writing; this is a fantasy novel which makes us care what happens to its people. --Roz Kaveney