This book is my favorite of the first four of the quintet (I have read Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree, Book of Saladin, and Stone Woman). The author is a master of setting time, people and place in the historical context of an Arab Muslim world and a Christian world as they merge and coexist, as seen in a realistic manner from a human viewpoint. This story deals with love, power, loyalty, customs, fate, and the forces that push people towards and into uncertain futures as they continue to live their lives, with critical comments on both religions without bogging down the story or becoming a polemic on religious virtues or vices.If you like very good writing, or medieval times, or stories about people, or stories of the days when Christians and Muslims almost worked it out to peacefully live together, this is a great book.