The first time I read C M Waggoner's books I read them in the wrong order. That didn't diminish my enjoyment of either book, though. Because they are both set apart by ~30 years, it is quite easy to read both of them independently of each other. What I enjoyed in this book: - the world building with the various cultures and religions (troll & human) in different cities - the sex scenes - the murder mystery - the idea of magic being like a programming language, so that people without magic energy can still write magic parameters - the gender and race ideas in this world