I have used this text (2nd ed) in our Primary Health Care courses for the past 6 years. King addresses very "felt need" issues of Community Health Workers working with poor communities and families, with balance, insight and very helpful instruction.

This book is the first half of the story of Humility Garden. It is continued in "Delta City". Humility is an ordinary rural youngster who doesn't quite fit in with her family. When her brother is selected to be given to the decadent other-worldly rulers, she follows him to the big city. She quickly discovers that the honor of her brother's sacrifice by the ghostiers is a mockery and that her culture is stagnated and top-heavy. Revolution follows.

The setting up of this story is wonderful. The ghostiers are interesting and disfunctional. Once Humility gets in over her head it gets dull and political. I didn't bother reading Delta City, however this book was worth it for the ghostiers alone, and I'm glad I read it.

There are places where this book takes too long to get to the point and some characters are rather dull. Still it is an enjoyable, and the comparison to Tanith Lee is appropriate. The world alternates between utterly fascinating and slightly roleplaying game-ish.

I will definitely want to read the sequel.

i find that this book doesn't delude itself as a-fantasy-but-really-is-our-world kind of book. i mean, the characters are surprisingly well liked but you KNOW they aren't exactly like you and me. why? coz they aren't human, and they don't necessarily operate on our social expectations and behaviour. when i first saw the title i wondered why it is called humility garden... it never occured to me that it is a *person's name*! however alien they seem, the book is excellent. humility is portrayed realistically as a country bumpkin trying to make things better for herself. as for the gods, well... the twist that they aren't exactly... er.. what we thought they are is really unexpected... i can say it's brilliant, brilliant work and really imaginative though you can get a 'lil bit confused here and there. myself, i had to read it at least a couple of times coz when i read a new book, i'm like a fiend racing for the ending and i tend to miss a lot of nuances and 'lil info here and there... and i warn you that with this book, somtimes missing the 'lil things can make the flow of the story incomprehensible! so, pay attention... and you'll be greatly rewarded.

Humility Garden, the first book, was alright, so I bought and read this one hoping that things would improve. The characters of these two books take life far too lightly, and for a book with characters capable of performing all sorts of miracles, why is Humility still blind at the end of the second book, and Arity still cursed with growing thorns, and...? I didn't like alot of the society of these books- the murderous Ghostiers, for example, and never came to understand the motivations of the majority of the characters.

I waited almost a year to read the sequel, and I was expecting something special. This book is good, but Humility is very worn out in this book and only gains her spirit back during the last 5 pages. The charaters were believable (though not always likeable.) If you've read the first book, read this one, even if it is just to find out what the hell happened. Be prepared, however, to want to slowly kill Arity.