This is probably the longest it has ever taken me to read a book! Had a chaotic week, but was able to find a somber moment today and resume reading. The deeper into this book I go, the more I enjoy it. It does take a bit to get into the rhythm of the prose, but it's quite worthwhile. Here is a sample of how well Tom Sheppard writes:
(page 189)
"But if Nature had demonstrated a fit of past ill-temper, she was not above revealing some more little amazements to make passing travellers slowly shake their heads and smile. Where you have rocky gorges and occasional water - as there had obviously been here - the evidence, pretty unambiguous, stays for a while. Tekenberet had gushed north out on the plain, smoothing, gouging, routing, swirling, pushing vegatation into a tangle, but succoring it all."