The best way I can describe this book is that it's like a (really good) Doctor Who episode written by Umberto Eco. Densely plotted, tangled, stylistically rich and varied, and incredibly inventive. It's a very difficult read, I would get completely absorbed in it, but surface from reading it utterly drained and exhausted. The style is often choppy and disorienting, and I constantly felt like my mind was running frantically to keep up with the twists and turns of the narrative. Not so good on character development, but it's a bit of a fable-type novel, so I guess that isn't really expected, it's mostly focussed on the movement of the plot, which is unbelievably masterful. I think what most impressed me (besides Norfolk's clearly staggering intellect) was a sheer variety in this book; variety of styles and variety of moods, ranging from the intensely horrific to the intensely comic. I didn't really buy the romantic plot, and wasn't sure why it was there at all, but everything else was wonderful, especially the weird blend of the realism, myth, supernatural and sci-fi, it sort of spills over from one genre into another in a gripping and effective way. I've never read anything quite like it before, it very satisfyingly combines the thrill of adventure with bold post-modern inventiveness.
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