Keith Donohue

At times, this was a truly moving narrative. I found the alternation of narrative between Henry Day and the changeling Aniday one of the most compelling portions of the book. Henry and Aniday made great foils, speaking to what makes the human experience truly important and how social relationships, creativity and introspection each have integral roles. On the other hand, the book feels underdeveloped. Plot threads, characters, even themes are dropped completely, without a backward glance. At times the plot overwhelms any thematic development and inversely, especially at the end of the book, the reader is asked to endure some extremely contrived plots in servitude to hammered imagery.… (more)

This book could have and should have been so much better. The story, and the setting were perfect, but the author managed to take these two positives and write a book that was boring. Horrible dialog, uninteresting characters, who don't behave like regular people, and the author feels the need to remind you how smart he is with his word choice. Reading the book I would have sworn it was 500 pages, not 273. It was that kind of boring. Oh and the big surprise ending didn't make up for the rest of the story and subplots that started and then went nowhere.
I could see this being made into a movie or a miniseries where with better writing and great atmosphere the story would be much better.… (more)