review 1: I grew increasingly irritated by the new characters introduced well in to the last quarter of the book. It was hard for me to tell who would be mentioned once in passing and who were the key players. I almost gave up until a chapter in the last quarter, introducing yet more new characters, including a guy named Wombat and a 9 year old kid/monster leashed in the basement. It was such a great story and it helped me embrace the book by viewing each chapter as a short story. Then I could relax, stop trying to keep track of names and dates, and just enjoy Klee's storytelling. Good stuff! review 2: Am still catching up on my ToB.... So, I read this. It's futuristic dystopia - my NOT favorite - but I soldiered through, frankly, because the author was a good spor... moret in the ToB comments. I will admit... I didn't hate it as much as I thought I would. Although I still didn't love it. Snaps to it for its portrayal of future NJ, but... but.... but... one problem I always have with books like this is that the vast majority of characters have no connection to me, and hence I have some trouble projecting forward. The only very slightly futuristic dystopia of Arcadia [spoiler alert!] is in some ways more upsetting because it contains people who seem more similar to myself. This had a few really nice moments but, for the most part, was just not my bag. less
