Of Swords and Parasols

This is one of those fantasies from the 90s that looks at all the rules and tosses them out the window.  Set in a land called Argylle, the book focuses on Gwydion, the current head of a family of flighty, brilliant, and possibly hedonistic immortals who rulethe city, and have for ages and ages.  Gwydion has been in the position of family head for a fairly short span of 23 years, following his mother's death, and would just as soon take a break from it, but a zen dragon(who got pissed when the tax collector decided his horde was a savings account and wanted to charge interest) and a long lost sister in no way suited for the "looser" morals of Argylle make him ready to head for the hills.  Too bad he's rather needed.

The book as a whole is really more of a worldbuilding exercise(rather like the mass entirety of Tolkein's works) than anything else.  Unlike most fantasy, which is based mostly on a specific time and setting, this book takes bits and pieces from everywhere and jams it full of Shakespearean referrecnes and themes, both obvious and subtle, and runs with it.

While not necessarily an "amazing" book, it was a highly enjoyable and fun one.  (And as it's the first of several new authors I got to check out over  the weekend, I hope it's a precursor of things to come.)