What can I say but I'm amazed. This was published over a decade ago, and I had no idea it even existed.

An epic fantasy, with shades of "A Canticle for Liebowitz" and even Carrie Vaughn's "Bannerless" series. There's not a lot here which is groundbreaking, and more than a tiny bit here which is a little clichéd, but much of this is just done beautifully.

The language, which can be overbearing at first glance, gradually grew on me, until it gently caressed my thoughts. This is a book which is filled with action and events, but it never seems anything less than its title - a lamentation for the destruction wrought in the world.

Its all done in third person, and each of the main points of view is earned and useful, unlike some-errrrm-fantasy "writers".

I think the entire novel could have benefitted from another female POV character, however. Just having the one seemed restrictive, especially where she is, for narrativium, regularly moved away from the locus of the novel's main events.

I'm not sure that I'll go on and read any more of the Psalms of Isaak, but I certainly am glad that I read this one.