I think I enjoyed this book more before I read The Starless Sea, but not enough so that it changes how much I adore it. Starless Sea is more feeling but this one is a substantially more coherent story. They don't really have much in common other than how the prose and mood scratch my brain.

This is a book carried by the force of its convictions, which do a lot of work that just couldn't be fit in. This book is made of so many ideas -- some intrinsically woven together, some that should be left without the attention they deserved because there are just *so many things*.

The writing is clean, and the premise is so unique, though. I just wish this was 2 or 3 books on the same so it felt like we had enough time to really feel everything.

A potentially good book that was failed (which feels minimizing in how much it detracts from the tone and feeling that lured me in) by its second half. I can't help but ask... why?