Like Summerland, this is no “Amazing Adventures…”. I found the beginning to be hard slogging – too much half-glimpsed history and unfamiliar terms to make things fun.
Later on, the book got better flow, and the story became a little more interesting. The resolution was a little disappointing, though, and I felt like I did when reading the Rebus novel where he’s dealing with the national government agencies (forget the title) – like the scope of the novel hadn’t been contained well.
Still, Chabon’s prose is almost always a joy to read, so the book was worth reading.