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I'm honestly tempted to call this a classic, but with one caveat: it will mostly be a treat for any die-hard fans of Elizabethian court intrigue, also being devoted to subverting the spin on the same.

Wait... is that really a thing?

Yep. I mean, yes, you can read this as a political fantasy intrigue with lots of spycraft and court and great passionate characters and a woman who is unable to get any satisfaction at all, but I prefer to see it as only a single layer to a rather complicated quasi-satire. Oh, and it's absolutely a condemnation of the grand white-washings of the past. :)

Indeed, Mo0rcock even admits he's satirizing the The Fairy Queen and lionizing Mervyn Peake.

I, personally, only enjoyed it sporadically and more for the overall plot than some of the indulgences, but I was rather fascinated by the extra worldbuilding. It was a real treat. :)