What Could Have Been: When the story was announced, the author mentioned she was thinking about using either Garon or Arete as viewpoint character, and would base her decision on what the readers wanted. In the end, they asked for Garon.
California Doubling: Averted with the bulk of the Edinburgh scenes, which were indeed filmed on location there; however, Edinburgh also stands in for several of the scenes set in Leicester, such as the railway station and the university exteriors.
