This book shows its age, especially when it comes to gender issues.

That ending needs so much help.

However, I can't seem to shake the feeling that even with problems that I would be tearing apart any book younger than my mother for, the story is actually salvageable. With a little bit of adaptation to ease up the awkward parts, there's a good archetypal story and some solid imagination under there. Fortunately, the prose holds up well too.