This was a very strange book, and please, don't let 3 stars deter you. Some of my favourite books have been very strange (in fact, it makes it more likely to be a favourite), but it has to hit the right notes for me, and this one didn't. It has the slight clunky feeling of aiming to be an allegory (I don't think it was), and the characters are (no doubt intentionally) slightly stilted and stylized, which I also often like, but for some reason not here.

I think fundamentally the premise was not handled well, especially because I just couldn't believe people would behave like that (unbelievable characters in anything other than an out-and-out farce is death for a novel). It's a bit like those many, many television programs which attempted to recreate the success of Lost by just being mysterious, and ending up being boring and disappointing. Jackson is obviously a wonderful writer even if this doesn't quite come off, and there are lovely passage taken in isolation. It just wasn't a book I particularly enjoyed, felt compelled to read, or that satisfied upon completion.

(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s). I feel a lot of readers automatically render any book they enjoy 5, but I grade on a curve! ( )