For far too much of the book, I felt like I was waiting for the “real” plot (ie, the fantasy components) to kick in. LaValle’s writing was itself strong enough to carry the narrative through the first few chapters, but lost its effectiveness before the action really started. That said, the main characters were relatable and humanly flawed — which is always important to me — and the worldbuilding intriguing if underdeveloped.

DNF at 3%. I might come back to this over the summer, it's just not the kind of thing I feel like reading currently.