I have read this book about 20 years ago in German. After reading Piranesi, I felt it's time for a re-read in the language it was meant to be read in. My experience was very similar: the book has fascinating world-building and is truly *magical*, but at times it's just unbearably slow and full of what feels like filler to me. It would have been a 5/5 with a more focused, less meandering story over 500-600 pages, as opposed to 1006. It only reall gets *exciting* in the last 100 or so pages. I still really like it, and I will definitely re-watch the TV adaptation now as well.