Stamping Butterflies (2004)

A confusing and, to my mind, often badly structured plot that fails to reach any kind of satisfactory conclusion - and I loved it. I would have liked a little more explanation (just a tad, here and there), especially towards the end where we find that Zero is really Moz. I'm still not entirely sure how it was that Moz was able to see the future, or just how the alt-future was averted, but SB was so compellingly written, the characters beautifully drawn. A real page turner (though I'm still not entirely sure why). ( )

John Courtenay Grimwood's books tend to be both thrilling and totally confusing. What exactly happened at the end? What was the darkness? How did it fiddle with time? And why? How did the 2023 worlds work, exactly? Anyway, it was thrilling. I guess I'm OK with being a little confused. ( )

I was too confused through most of this book to be able to link the three story lines together. I am surprised I lasted to a point where things started to come together, around 250 pages of a 400 page book. Once things started to jell together, it got a little bit better, but overall I am just as confused at the end as I am at the beginning. I think the part that leaves me cold is the part of the future. I don't see how this section really plays into the larger story as a whole. The past and the present I got the relationship pretty early in the book, and enjoyed the story that was being described quite a bit. The future always left me cold, and more confused then enlightned, which to me always took me out of the story being told. An interesting read, just not one I would recommend highly. This is more an enter at your own risk sort of book. ( )

http://thewindingtrack.blogspot.com/2007/09/stamping-butterflies.html ( )