So, throughout the book Mr. Wilrich refers to Gideon 'preparing' his spells in the morning, but Bards are spontaneous casters that don't prepare spells. I would hope that if someone wanted to write a story set in an established, specific world, that they would at least try to understand the basics of the classes they are writing about.
That glitch aside, the story is fine and helps illuminate the secret life of bards fairly well. As others have mentioned, the metaphors get severely strained at some points, and there are more than just a few major cliches.
However, I am easy to please, and this book filled my want for a fantasy book to read while I am sitting on the toilet.
