A graduate student is lured into another realm to become the bride of the Fairy Queen's son, only to find out that what is beautiful on the surface may have far more sinister origins.
Unfortunately, despite a promising start (really appreciated and sympathized with the graduate student humor), Barker's tale quickly began to bore me. The heroine felt led around for most of the tale and only came into her own at the end. While studying magic is intriguing, I do not need to read exhaustive descriptions of the learning process. Get to the action!
Plus, the alternate realm is so chauvanistic that I wasn't really sure how I felt about it, nor the cranky old wizard who eventually becomes the love interest. Why bother at all? It may have been more interesting to leave this as a non-romance completely. Left wide open for a sequel, but not really interested enough to read another 500 pages of low action. Read Deborah Harkness's series instead.