There was more cohesion to this novel as, well, a novel than I experienced with From the Mouth of the Whale and as such it enabled me to enjoy Sjón's writing so much more. He has a gift with phrases that seem to spin out like gossamer thread, glinting in the light - and he creates a vivid picture, even without too many adjectives or bluntly descriptive phrases, of a world in the North. He's the kind of writer who, at his best, can (like Caeneus, perhaps) make a reader (or listener) believe in the myth or the grand story over whatever's occurring in their present. What greater gift could there be?

More at RB: http://ragingbiblioholism.com/2014/04/25/the-whispering-muse/