3.5*
Chapter I is brilliant - had me completely gaffed from the start. The rest of Part I is also very good. Part II was a slight deterioration, but still good. Part III I found found OK, but a bit predictable and mundane in comparison to the rest.

There was a lot of potential here to explore more of how the "binding" of memories into books created a society different from our own, but each time we were on the threshold of that, at the respective ends of Parts I & II, the author backed away, and shifted the direction of the story.