PanLitReactorI found this an odd book, with some insight into the time, but I found I didn’t really care about the characters and had only marginal interest in the lynchings (as does the book) as it seems a device to talk about the characters. One for the literary types, but not for me.
Michael Chabon
RaveLitReactorI’m not sure what I was expecting, but I never lost interest, possibly because, as I said, Chabon still knows how to tell a story. He knows what to do to keep a reader interested, unlike so many 'literary' authors who don’t seem to grasp the concept. I found myself enjoying the story and wanting to know more, even when the book ended. Whether the characters are real or fiction, he certainly got me interested and kept my attention. Heartily recommended.
Nathan Hill
MixedLitReactorI didn’t find the characters sympathetic and found myself wondering, on more than one occasion, why I should care. The only character I felt sorry for was Pwnage, the leader of his guild in Elfquest, a game obsessive that reminds me of too many people I know. In the end, I did want to know what happened to Samuel. I didn’t hate it — I wanted to love it, but it didn’t quite get there.
Martin Seay
RaveLitReactor...the story is intriguing, jumping from the time of George W’s invasion of Iraq to the various pasts and with realistically fleshed-out characters. The details are convincing for the historical settings and I didn’t notice any obvious temporal flaws. And, the over-arching theme—how mirrors reflect and distort reality, even to the extent of capturing essences or the belief that they have magical powers over the souls of men, particularly our images of ourselves—is interesting. It’s hard to miss the comparisons with David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas and would seem to be an obvious inspiration for this type of book. While I wanted to finish the book, like Cloud Atlas, it irritated me and even when finished, it didn’t feel quite complete. If you have issues with literary novels, this is not the book for you.
