Book excerpt: Zsallia Marieko is a solitary immortal, very much the pagan barbarian at heart, but tempered by her centuries amongst a growing Christian influence in Western Europe. Her tale is by turns pathetic, endearing, unnerving and horrifying as the reader witnesses her climb from nameless slave to terrifying goddess, then her plunge into murderous insanity until she emerges humbled and remade- all this in just her first 1500 years. Concomitant with that tale is the modern narrative where Zsallia is forced to confront what it means to cease living outside society and join the world around her, to take up the benefits and responsibilities of living openly and asking people to simply accept who and what she is.