Blade #2 is even better than Blade #1. Blade is a likable enough guy (despite being impossibly oversexed), but this series' real treasures are its supporting characters. I was sad, I kid you not, to realize that since each book takes place in a different dimension, I most likely won't be "meeting" those people again. Dimension X is derivative of a Chinese/Mongolian historical setting, but weird and different enough to be unique. This is not just hack 'n slash; you may boggle at how half a dozen different characters are all pawns in one another's schemes. Who is going to end up ruling the Mongs--and the Caths? Will the "civilized" obliterate the nomads, or vice versa?
