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Ephemera is a world of fractured landscapes linked by stationary or resonating bridges that take you where your heart wants to go more often than where your will intends. It is a world of humans, demons, wizards and Landscapers, a world that listens to the hearts of its creatures all, resonating with those hearts and responding to them. It is a world of Dark and Light and a long history of manipulation, ambition and trouble.

Sebastian is a demon, half incubus and half human. He lives in a landscape created by his cousin, the powerful rebel Landscaper Glorianna - known, and feared, as Belladonna. Called the Den of Iniquity, it is a nighttime landscape of pleasure and debauchery - but something in Sebastian wants more than his lonely existence, more than giving pleasure to countless females through dreams or in the flesh. His heart's wish resonates with the heart wish of a young woman in another landscape, Lynnea, and Ephemera draws them together.

Darker things are afoot in the world, though. The Eater of the World, trapped in its own barren landscapes for generations, has been freed. The wizards work to their own agenda and turn Belladonna into the enemy - and she is the enemy, the only one who can fight the Eater of the World. As she comes to understand what Ephemera truly needs, that it needs Dark as well as Light, that both have a place, she above all understands that demons like Sebastian are just as important to Ephemera's existence as those humans who are "good".

Anne Bishop is an excellent writer of edgy, original fantasy, the kind of fantasy that speaks to the potential of the genre to delve into the nature of what it means to be human, as well as the nature of the world we live in. She creates fascinating, intriguing worlds that push us out of our comfort zones and confronts common assumptions and prejudices. Her work is refreshing and unique, approachable rather than alienating, and contains characters who feel very much alive.

Sebastian is written in a similar style to her Black Jewels trilogy, from the perspective of several different characters who offer different angles to the story, and embeds localised plot lines within a larger, more fundamental story arc (in this case, the Eater of the World). It worked superbly well in the Black Jewels, but here it was more scattered, and made it harder to ground myself in the book. Especially considering the title character, Sebastian, doesn't figure as prominently in the story as you'd think, given that the book is named after him. It's simply a case of having expectations and being a bit disappointed.

I hate to continue comparing this to the Black Jewels, but the latter did establish a pretty high standard. The characters of the Black Jewels were strongly drawn, diverse and interesting and endearing, and very sympathetic. I still think of them from time to time. The characters of Sebastian are paler in comparison, less solid, more clichéd. There was a degree of cheesiness - especially with Sebastian and Lynnea, whose romantic relationship was a bit corny and formulaic at times - that made me cringe a bit, and Sebastian wasn't as charismatic as he could have been.

That's not to say I didn't thoroughly enjoy this book, but I did feel it was a bit lacking and not her best effort. Still, top marks for originality and giving me something to chew on.