On the basis of the recommendations I have seen here I bought the book and read it. I found it rich , deep, and very rewarding, and I am now slowly rereading it, and looking forward to reading the sequels. The sexual masochism of the narrator is central to her character and to the plot, but it is not the point of the book. The author does not dwell in (gory, juicy, sickening... take your pick) detail on those scenes, any more than Gene Wolfe luxuriates in torture scenes in his Shadow of the Torturer tetralogy. -- Mark A. Mandel [This text prepared with Dragon NaturallySpeaking.] __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com