I picked this book up a couple different bookstores over the past couple of months and ended up putting it down every time, mostly because I don't like buying hardcovers so I tend to make sure they're ones I know I'm going to love. Looking back I'm really glad I didn't spend the money on this one and I borrowed it from the library instead. 

I have never read a Kelly Link book but I heard decent reviews prior and I was intrigued by the premise. Let me start off by saying this book is deceivingly long and it drags in quite a few places. I was surprised by how many pages there is in this book. Looking back there were multiple scenes that didn't add much substance plot wise but were just character or scene descriptions that were not super necessary.

There was some character growth, but also not much at all? Surprisingly, I feel like Anabin, Bogomil and Malo Mogge had the most growth but they were the big baddies and secondary characters! The main characters felt like they had one main personality trait that drove their personality and choices: Daniel was so passive it was annoying, Susannah was a grump but she made that her entire personality, Laura was a busy-body older sister and no one likes that, and Mo also was pretty emotionless most of the book considering his circumstances. I liked the dynamics between Thomas and Bowie, though Bowie was missing most of the book as well. Where does that leave us in terms of the storyline? Not much, just filler descriptions. Which, don't get me wrong, they were nice to read but not for 608 pages.

There were a few scenes where a lot of stuff happened and those were the scenes that really stuck with me and kept me reading. I do think I'd like Link's work, but I think I'm going to stick to her short stories.