Anfenwick

Well I liked it, I really did. It's full of beautiful words and sparkly ideas and there is a plot in there as well. It's somewhat related to the plots of Alice in Wonderland and Wizard of Oz but I think that doesn't matter. It's the words and images and ideas that count.

Unfortunately I had a reading experience with it that was less than ideal. It's a book that needs to be read fast to get the most out of it. It did not lend itself to my daughter and I reading it aloud when we were already exhausted from school and work. It doesn't have those qualities of suspense and excitement that make you read through the pain and enjoy it anyway. We didn't need to know what happened next as much as we needed to get to sleep.

Six weeks in and only a third of the way through we agreed to give up on it and I decided to finish it in an all-nighter. To my surprise I was done by midnight. The last fifth of the Kindle version of the book is all interviews and previews and stuff like that! If we'd known... but I think it may genuinely by too aesthetic for my daughter.