Very much in Eco's style, which works for this book and against it. It feels like familiar territory after Foucault's pendulum albeit without a single likeable character.
I admit to being a biased audience. As a story, it was very cleverly constructed, but as an Eco novel, I expected something...more. It does what it set out to do and well and yet the cleverness felt like a rehash of some of his earlier work. Still ok Eco is miles above just about everyone else

This is one of those books that I love more every time I reread it. This is my third read and I can appreciate the impressive feats Stephenson pulls off. It's a book that improves as you grow up and can see more of what Stephenson is doing.
I'm almost willing to forgive him the classic Stephensonian ending.

EDIT 4/29/14: This is just to say...I am teaching this book in my "Literature and Networks" seminar and I am super excited! *kermitflail*

I'd heard really good things about this book and I find myself wondering how much of the book actually needed to be set at Longbourn to work. I mean, elements of the narrative intersected with P&P, but the story itself could just as easily have happened absent Austen's world.
So there's the part of the story that's something of an ideological stance...not against Austen per se, but not aligned with her either, where much of the non-description of characters and places and the functioning of the world is replaced with actual depictions of work (which, of course, Austen would have been more than familiar with).
And then there's the rest of the narrative, which is a nice narrative about the lives of the servant classes and some thoughts about the people who are not often written about.
I'm just not sure whether they connect.

Also, I will admit that some of the characterizations just felt...off. The language, on the other hand, worked very well for me because Baker at no point attempted to BE Jane Austen and wrote the characters in her own voice. And that was infinitely better than attempting Austen.

Great end to a really creative and fun series! Would read again if I had the time.

This was a decidedly fun and enjoyable read. All the elements of a portal fantasy, creepy and evil far creatures, generally impressive world-building, a reasonable ending given all the characters. Novel does exactly what it says on the tin.
In many ways, this feels like a young adult fantasy novel for adults. Which is to say that YA is preoccupied with themes of...similarities and parallels between the reader and the characters in the book. YA often aims to build a relationship with the reader through this sense of kinship while literature aimed at adults that does such things is usually trivialized. Real adult literature defamiliarizes.
Which, of course, is a specious distinction left over from the early 20th century modernists and there is no reason to favor one over the other on the level of value judgement. It's a matter of personal preference and what you want books to do. Barker (rightly) wrote a book that appreciates that adults not only enjoy that moment when they recognizing a protagonist that is (like) them, but might enjoy seeing themselves and their concerns reflected in literature.
Although I will say that Nora's worries about her dissertation hit a bit too close to home.

I've been meaning to read this forever (for a given definition of the term) and then it was nominated for the Hugo, which made me incredibly happy. The thing about Valente is that, while she has a distinctive touch, very few of her books are exactly the same. And so this is not like her lush adult fantasies or like her gorgeous take on children's' stories. It's a thing of its own; a retelling of Snow White set in America that is both entirely true to the fairy tale and completely redefines it for the audience.
Perhaps needless to say, I really liked it!

It's [a:Anne Bishop|26897|Anne Bishop|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1237258217p2/26897.jpg], I read it for that reason alone. Her style of fantasy romance appeals to me for reasons I still can't quite express. I think there's something about her world building and the way in which her scary characters are nice. The men are less pretty in this series, but the dogs are cuter so it's about an even trade.
I swear, there's something between a paper and a dissertation on depictions of female power and agency in Anne Bishop.
Probably a paper. The W.S. dissertation would likely be Anne Bishop, Anita Blake and Jacqueline Carey or Anne Rice. Not sure. Any takers?

Nothing quite like rewarding oneself for finishing critical reading with a healthy dose of romance novel. And she's really delightful. One of the things I really appreciate about her is the balance she strikes between obviously knowing her stuff in terms of period while still having fun with the era and the characters. And her male characters (esp.) don't fall into the "I'm rakish, but only on the outside" stereotype. They have distinct personalities.
Anyway, Milan's series is loads of fun.

Really enjoyed this book—I picked it up because I heard it billed as a retelling of Snow White, though it's less a retelling and closer to a riff on the story and on fairy tales in general. Elegantly executed, this story walks the line of American magical realism perfectly and I only wish it lasted longer.