The novel takes place almost entirely inside the small-seeming kingdom of the MacGils, an ancient royal line going back eight rulers. It has all the trappings of a medieval fantasy world, including castles, villages, monsters, and magic. Knights hurry from place to place on horseback, in full armor with sharpened swords and powerful maces. In the villages, locals get by through farming, smithing, or any way that they can. Crime appears to be a major problem within the kingdom, with many gambling dens scattered across cities and villages, and no one seems capable of addressing the problem. Many lords of this land are so powerful that they challenge the sovereignty of the king, or at least do not seem afraid to break royal laws or decrees. As a result, fighting within the nobility breaks out on a regular basis. Either the present king is simply uninterested in...