She blew it. I was hooked from the beginning – the story was somewhat interesting, and the characters likable. I was curious about the mystery, and really enjoyed the dream-like elements (specifically the concept of the shifting routes through the hospital).
Then things started taking a little too long. We’d get punctured equilibria – things would stay the same for a few dozen pages, then a shift. Then the sameness would last longer and longer, until eventually you despaired for something new to happen. Also, as time passed the sciency bits got less and less sciency and more weird.
It became boring. I watched my “rating” go from 5 to 4 to 3…

Basically, this would’ve been more worth consuming if it were half the length or so, but there just wasn’t enough concept to carry the book for the whole 800 pages. So, bonus points for the way the hospital was presented save the day. Barely.

I loved this book. It had me thinking about it when I was supposed to be working. I couldn’t wait to get back to it. It was so different to what I expected. How do you recommend a book on such a dark subject?

I loved The Doomsday Book by this author and can’t wait to find out if this book will live up to my expectations. It certainly has a great write up but I’ll reserve judgement until I’ve read the book myself.