I like the book but it sort of rubbed me the wrong way – Susan just seems so incredibly dismissive of Lobsang at the beginning, even being quite nasty and bossy because she thinks he’s normal. When she realizes he’s very much like her she warms to him, of course, but she is very much the sort of person who is the universal schoolmistress: the power she has over her students, in her opinion, should extend to all humanity. It does, since she’s Death’s granddaughter, but her mockery of Lobsang just bugged me for some reason.
Maybe it wasn’t as strong as I remember. It just bothered me.
The book is very tightly plotted, though, and well paced and interesting. I found much more of a message about the nature of humanity and the definition of being human: Myria/Unity’s struggle seems to highlight the notion that human is something you become, not something you’re necessarily born with.