This was an epic work. I can't quite quantify what made it such a delight, because it wasn't a light, fun, relaxing sort of a book. If you missed something it mattered, and every page was seemingly more confusing than the last in some ways. The deep richness of the stories somehow kept me coming back though, and no matter how many times I wondered just where everything could possibly be going, I kept at it because I'd become intrigued. This is by no means a book for everyone, it's almost labyrinthine in its language and drawing of a future world. But it's been plaguing me for days, somehow got its claws into me, and I am a little freaked out by the whole concept but very glad I read it. Whaat a complicated, potent book.