It's a delight to read a book in which the main character is an older woman. She sets out from her quiet university life to save her student -- and the women's college -- resolutely. As you read, you realize that she was an adventurous traveler in her youth, and has the skills and contacts to negotiate the perils in her world.

The world is a wildly imaginative one. It's the land we go to in dreams -- or at least some of us do. I really enjoyed it. And I laughed out loud when Vellitt made sure to get her expense report back to the Bursar.