I won't repeat all the rave reviews except to say that the last 200 pages are unputdownable and I read them in one day.

At the end I am struck by some thoughts about "the enduring treatment of the mentally ill" as represented by the Sanatorium. Take it from someone with firsthand experience, the failed methods of curing "mental illness" with potions, tinctures and removing any possible thing that could distress the nerves (toxic compassion) -- is no different than it was 200 years ago -- when you think about tne metabolically disordered, zombie-like, dependent existence which psychiatry and therapy work in lockstep to offer as the only solution.