* Disclaimer: I received a copy of this novel from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. *

There is an audience out there for this book, but I discovered that I am not a part of it. The writing is good, but the approach to the narrative is awkward and I found myself slogging through the pages. The construction felt confusing and was quite poor for my experience. In fact, it nearly put me in a reading slump out of frustration.

Readers need to be aware before going into this book that it is a dense read that requires time and a slow, pensive read. It is very stream of consciousness and definitely holds up to its claim to be meta. Readers also need to have some background understanding of Roman mythology and Shakespeare, as there are a LOT of references and the book is definitely based upon a firm knowledge of The Tempest and Twelfth Night. Without this preparation, there is a lot that will be missed.

For those who do love Shakespeare and can handle the stream of consciousness approach that includes occasional heavy digression, this will be an enjoyable read. Walton does have talent in her writing and her prose is quite lyrically beautiful.

In my experience, I could appreciate some of the meta parallels created between Sylvia's world and her book creation, but there wasn't a lot of progressive plot that kept me interested. There was a lot of implication and not enough storytelling. It felt like two separate books shoved together and I received no satisfaction from either one in the end.

I also had difficulty with the character. I was interested in them at the beginning, but as the book went on it felt like the reader was held at arm's length and I really wasn't allowed to know them fully. This left them a bit flat on the page. The only character who did allow some insight was Sylvia, and even with her I wanted more truth.

This book does have its merits and, as I said in the beginning, there are definitely readers who will fall in love with this. I do caution potential readers to go in prepared and select this carefully though, as for many it will not be comprehensible and enjoyable read.