I just got done reading this, and I've come to one conclusion: the characters are written to be so human it's uncanny. And when one pulls that off, it shows they know what the hell they're doing. Good job, Gryph. :)

Side Note, possibly slightly spoilerish: when I got the part about Corwin describing what happened to Kala, the Offspring's "Gone Away" came up in WinAmp. Wow. It fit so well.

Reverend Hammer