The Gone-Away World

DNF. After previously reading and greatly enjoying “Gnomon” by the same author, I was eager to dive into their earlier works. Had to give up after almost three months of not being drawn in. It is a fun book overall but the writing here had tangents which had asides which had more tangents...  The choice to skip back in time to the MC's childhood in chapter 2 after the big setup in chapter 1 was a little offputting. Additionally, new characters kept getting introduced on almost every other page, often never to be mentioned again as we move on to yet another quirky scene. I don't think it was time wasted, but there are plenty of other more engaging books to read.