Since I treasure Hucklberry Finn, I had to give this a read. Its aim was immediately intriguing and ambitious, and the notion of exploring Jim's perspective as the center of the narrative offered up abundant opportunities for depicting the world Twain outlined with more nuance, complexity and realism. I was really prepared for something deeper than what this served up. It was a taut action narrative free of much introspection. The description, where it existed, was oddly bereft of physicality or texture; similarly, supporting characters, especially the female ones, were as flat as felt puppets, lacking definition and personal attributes of any kind. There was a certain historicity lacking, as well - the author seemed to have done less research on the time and place than I'd have wished. His renderings of dialect aren't as fine-tuned as Twain's were and rang false to my mind's ear. I wanted to love it; in the end, I appreciated it and enjoyed the ripping-yarn, hero's journey qualities it had, but without the awe I'd hoped for.