Christine

You can't really world-build a high concept time travel war narrative using lyrical Sapphic free verse - who would have guessed?

To the extent this fails, it's due to great ambition. I highly recommend checking it out. It is unique - in the true sense of the word.

I think I'll let it all fade from my mind, and then revisit it, reading only the letters. I'm intrigued what effect that would have. My instinct is that it might be more alluring with LESS explanation. I feel like this tried to straddle lush poetry and intricate time travel plotting, and they didn't work so well together. My dissatisfaction with the plot I was given distracted me from just enjoying the language and emotion.

I also feel like the voices of the characters converged over time - weird, given the dual authorship, and disappointing because the characters are from such drastically different civilizations! Again, maybe a more patient re-read of their letters will give me a different impression.

All in all, highly weird and beautiful, and takes a big swing at being different.

Still delightful, as the rest of the series is. But I miss ART!

I really loved the idea of this book, but have to admit that I didn't much enjoy the actual book. It took me two months to read it - if some books are “unputdownable,” this ranks as “easily putdownable.”

I think it's a combination of things: I'm not a fan of mysteries where the sleuth's personal concerns occupy much of the narrative, the characters all represent likeable tropes but not actual people, it's impossible to care about the murder victims, and probably worst of all, it winds up just being a mishmash of coincidental events more than it is a complex web of mystery.

If you like creepy weird fiction, but don't need it to be purely bleak, this one might be for you! I was immediately drawn in by the homey and lovable Uncle Earl and his cozily weird museum, but I wasn't sure where this story was headed. Then when supernatural/sci-fi stuff started to happen, I was here for it. But imagine my delight when I noticed the willows were not just a passing bit of background, and there were creepy funneled holes all over the sand - ‘HOLY COW is she embroidering on [b:Algernon Blackwood 1335601 The Willows Algernon Blackwood https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348548258l/1335601.SX50.jpg 2588003]?!' Yes, reader, she was, and it was almost entirely successful in my opinion. What a charge to realize a classic but largely unknown story by the author of [b:The Wendigo 1137702 The Wendigo Algernon Blackwood https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1181290361l/1137702.SX50.jpg 2482119] is the basis for this supremely unsettling, compelling horror story! This is less toward the hopeless Lovecraft/Ligotti end of the spectrum, and honestly more toward the Raimi end - there are seriously chilling and terrifying bits, but also almost a slapstick element at times, and a good deal of snark. For me, it worked!I guess technically this is a 4.5 for me due to some reliance on a couple of colossally stupid decisions by the protagonists, and one point that the readers can see perfectly clearly yet the main character misses in a way that starts to seem dense (but is defensible if you take the point of view that someone really experiencing these things wouldn't notice what we readers in our comfortable chairs can see much earlier).

I liked this, and I was rooting for S.T. and laughing at his blunt comments and colorful descriptions. However, I felt like I continuously lost momentum as the story went on, due to a few factors.

First, Buxton attempts the incredibly difficult maneuver of combining silly, lowbrow humor with deep sadness and loss. Two authors I've seen pull this off are Douglas Adams and David Wong (Jason Pargin), and they definitely went far heavier on the goofy humor, allowing the background pathos to exist quietly, only occasionally coming to the fore. Buxton showcases grief and heartache much more heavily, and that made this more difficult for me to read.

Second, S.T. lacks a coherent quest. He and Dennis sort of wander around wondering what to do, which takes all the wind out of the narrative sails. The establishment of a Purpose and a Big Bad comes very late. I can see that this may be a choice - S.T.'s disillusionment with the world serving up possible quests like Lucy holding the football is definitely meant as part of his psychological development. I just personally didn't feel invested in following that journey.

Finally, the whole driver for the plot and source of the Big Bad (zombie virus-ish thing) fell really flat for me. The social commentary was both tired (hello 1978's Dawn of the Dead) and insultingly reminiscent of “kids these days” grumbling about Millennials. Plus when the mechanism is explained and further impact realized, it just doesn't make any sense. I feel like this honestly would have been a better story if the zombie plague remained totally mysterious and just set up the need for S.T. to rebuild a life outside of being a pet.