This is the kind of book that makes you want to worship the writer. How does Ricardo Pinto take fantasy, with all its tired, old devices and conceits, and turn it into something so lovely that it defies description? THE CHOSEN is by far the best book I've read in over a year. If you like Gene Wolfe's Urth cycle, Mervyn Peake, Paul McAuley's Confluence series, and other such stuff, you'll adore this one. I think the cultural influences Pinto weaves in are Japanese, Mayan, and Egyptian. The elaborate rituals and ornate settings are hypnotically described, and the characters are flawless. My only complaint is the terrifying ending. I am obsessed! I need to know what happens!