When this book was recommended to me, I was basically told, “I’m not going to tell you anything about it. Just read it, and then we’ll talk. Don’t read anything about the book—not even the book jacket or cover. Don’t even look at the cover—just read the book.”
And so I did. And so I too recommend the exact same to you.
That said, these thoughts will in no way violate that suggestion, so feel safe to continue reading. And what I can share with you is this: What an interesting story! I am so glad I simply dove straight in without knowing anything, as this is how to tale is written and how it is best approached. This story made me stop and think and reflect. Then I had to stop again and reflect differently. It challenged me on a number of levels regarding preconceptions that I didn’t even know I had.
As for style, the writing was much too heavy-handed metaphorically for my taste. At times it felt as though things couldn’t be simply described or mentioned without doing so only under the context of comparisons. That started to wear me down quickly as the overuse eventually slowed my reading due to what felt like a near constant need to understand what I was reading only by thinking of something else. Still, the story itself broke through that literary density to shine through with a completely new type of tale. And that was wonderfully refreshing in a world of the same story being told too many times in too many ways.