It took me a while bc of the density of the prose mainly, but what a marvelous span thorough history, and magic, and pain, and love. Joe Kavalier is an amazing character, all broody and pensive (a bit like Sandman, to name one), and Sammy only superficially cheerful and carefree. By the time you reach the end and think of the start, it'll be like a lifetime had passed, and it is for the characters. And it's like the writer purposefully took all his time to make you feel the distance they went through, all the troubles and shifts. Epic.