Off to Be the Wizard

This had so much potential. Unfortunately, after laying out an extremely interesting and original premise, it essentially turned into another book. And a mediocre one, at that. Not much in the way of stakes in the central conflict, and the resolution came without much of a bang. The final chapter felt like a setup for a sequel, but not one that promised anything new.

Spoiler: If you could go anywhere in the world, at any point in history, forever, why would you choose to spend eternity in one place and time? Or, more to the point, to tell a middling fantasy story for 75% of what begins as a funny and interesting science fiction piece?