This was intensely gripping from start to finish. although the morbid person in me would have liked to 'huntin' shootin' fishin' to have started sooner.

The only con...

This would have earned a 4 star review if it hadn't been for the ridiculous amount of movie references. I'd maybe understand, in a book that related to movies somehow but it didn't.
Half of the references I didn't understand or referred to films I hadn't seen and so I had to Google them in order for the reference to even have the desired effect which dropped the pace as fast as the elevator in Speed.

(see my point)

Not only that but theyll also date the book IMMENSELY overtime.
I probably wouldn't have minded one or two references every few chapters but there seemed to be one on almost every other page. And not only that but if you have to rely on references to get your point across that much then...well.

Movie references aside, I thought the book toed the line on some issues but overall the book was darkly enjoyable.
Like a wolf prowling around your house, the Medievals were lethal but you couldn't help but let them in anyway.