Second part of the story : as good as the first.

It could be that gamers would appreciate this even more than I did:the main characters are straight out of their world, with a thief, an assassin, a knight and a scholar, but the author rounds them out and gives each of them individuality. The dialogues are often funny - although sometimes the author seems to be straining a little. The situations are often full of suspense, and the ending is satisfactory. It's one of the better books I've read over the last twelve months.

BTW, T Kingfisher studied anthropology. One of the themes of the novel is a riff on the relationship between an ethnologist - in this case, the priest of the Many-Armed God - and his informants - here, the gnoles. It captures some of the dynamics and of the problems involved - both practical and ethical - very well.

Also, Kingfisher has been compared to Terry Pratchett. It is true that some of the gags are of the same kind as those we find in the Discworld, and that there are several oblique references to the city of Ankh-Morpork - including a passing reference to CMOT Dibbler (one of the main characters purchases what is very probably a rat on a stick). But Kingfisher is very much her own woman.