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It would probably be fairer to say that I'd give this novel two-and-a-half stars rather than two.

The novel is a fantasy region heavily inspired by medieval or renaissance Italy. The peninsula, called the Palm, was formerly divided into nine independent states before two invades the Ygrathens from the west and the Barbadians from the east arrive and conquer each state until it is divided by foreign invaders.

The story revolves mainly around a group of singers and musicians who transform into a band of revolutionaries. As an early complaint, I enjoyed some of the intriguing and politicking that the characters pull off, but largely Kay relies on the idea that keeping the audience ignorant is a benefit to building suspense. It can be frustrating to get long sections talking around what is about to happen rather than just simply learning of the scheme and seeing if it turns out. This is hardly exclusive to Kay and find it off-putting in general lately.

The story also hinges a great deal of people having secret identities or not being who they say they are. Off the top of my head I can think of at least four different instances when characters are not who they seem. Three of these are critical to the final outcome of the book.

The invaders are led by two wizards and magic is a heavy element to the story. I don't like magic very much, especially not the grand, overarching magic that exists in this particular novel. A critical part of the story is that King Brandin of Ygrath wipes the names of a kingdom that killed his son during the war from memory, and when people born in Tigana speak the word others cannot understand them. That sort of global, world-changing magic is a bit of a stretch for me. The fact that it was the bedrock of the story lost me a bit.

I also did not love the way women were written in the story. There are two primary female characters in the novel: Catriana and Dianora. I felt Catriana exists far too much to serve the interests of the male characters around her, beginning with Devin and ending with Alessan. Dianora on the other hand has a... bizarre story, one that even as I think back not sure I can sit comfortably with. Perhaps Kay never sold me on her central conflict.

The writing isn't bad, and I often found myself enjoying sections of the novel, but when I consider it as a whole it just doesn't work for me. The book alone is perhaps a three-star book, but when I consider the factors discussed above that drags it down to the 2/2.5 range for me. I don't necessarily think the book is bad, but it definitely did not work terribly well for me. Early missteps led to some promise and than that tapered up and down depending on the capture. Interesting ideas were frequently squandered by an odd choice and perspective. The over-reliance on magic stripped the characters of their agency, in my opinion.