This is a complicated book to put into words! I think I need to reread it to wrap my head around it! but my initial thoughts are as follows:

What I liked: I loved the world the novel is set in, or I might refer to it as the frame of the story. It is well written/ imagined, highly ambitious and successfully crafted. I did not skip through the novel and enjoyed the idea of having many books in one, the story within the story was something I enjoyed in TSS. The world-building is impeccable! I can't put how much it captivated me in words!

What I did not like: The lack of plot was irritating, I followed Zachary into the unknown, not knowing what to look for, what to overcome (which is nothing apparently!) and what to achieve. Also, the characters were not ones I felt attached to, I needed more from them, more depth, more growth, more history... just more! so much effort was put into world-building that I felt the characters were not the main focus.