i thought this book was too big for its britches and fundamentally ill-suited to being a novel. the whole underlying notion is interesting, but seems to require a visual component to give it the heft the author tries to afford it with words unnecessarily long and cumbersome. ( )

Started this, found it very good, but too dense for my attention level. I'm saving it for my trip abroad, when the density in such a thin book will be a great time/weight ratio.

It was *very* good. At times bizarre and meandering, but always mysterious and deep. ( )

this book is truly masterful - such inventive swoops of the imagination. ( )

A fantasy world where a city is under seige from the evil Dr Hoffman who is using machines to generate alternate realities based on people's desires. Anarchy abounds and Deserio is set the task of tracking down the doctor and disabling his infernal machines. The magic realism that Angela Carter loves to pepper her work is the whole work in this strange, uneasy book. Not one of my favourite Angela Carter novels; when nothing is a recognisable reality it's difficult to understand whether the whole trip has any point. ( )

A surreal tale of desire unleashed. One of the major works of imaginative fiction.

http://www.strangewords.com/archive/w... ( )