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I did not wish to depart from citing recent Italian examples, yet I do not want to omit Hiero of Syracuse, one of those I mentioned above.

To such lofty examples I should like to add a lesser one; but it will have some relation to the others, and I should like it to suffice for all similar cases: and this is Hiero of Syracuse.

Sid envies Hiero’s talent and sees him as a rival in love.

“Half-Blood Blues” burrows into their relationship: Sid’s exhilaration when Hiero’s playing brings out the best in his own, resentment when the younger man gets the lion’s share of the praise, and, very occasionally, compassion for Hiero’s lonely, rootless condition.

The author may mean to de-glamorise the fairy world, but instead makes it boringly mundane; after a certain point, Hiero ought to wear a T-shirt reading "The numinous doesn't live here any more".