The Fall of the Kings

The Fall of the Kings is set in a universe established in Kushner's novel Swordspoint (more on that later), and is about a young man with a streak of madness in him who just might the descendent of royalty, deposed centuries earlier and now anathema to even speak about, and his lover, a historian who might also be a wizard. The romance plot and the magical/political one are interwoven neatly, and frankly, once I started this book I couldn't put it down; the prose was that engaging. Too bad the mood was a little ruined by a totally inconclusive ending. I still loved it, though, well enough to buy the other two novels in the series.