I kind of conceptualized him as an anti-LI, aha. It's definitely a big change from the previous two books with their straight-up romances!

Who's the other death (psych!!!), the guy from Feet of Clay? I agree it's a bit distracting; comic fiction gets a pass, but Bitterblue is... not comic fiction :P It is my favorite of the three -- though it must be admitted that I have always liked dreamy, vaguely weird stories, so you are probably onto something there.