I fell in love with the blurb months before this came out, which is not the smartest thing to do because blurbs are often misleading. In this case, I think it just raised my expectations higher than they needed to be. 

Paice, I think, is more of a poet than a novellist. It shows in her writing, which is lyrical and doesn't always flow in the usual narrative way. I enjoyed this for the most part, but it got a little bit tiresome at points. It's a style that does well for short novels or novellas. 

The story itself also read like a very long poem. The magical realism had too much magic so that the real parts got a bit confused. 

I didn't dislike the characters, but every one of them annoyed me in parts so that the overall level of irritation affected my reading pleasure. 

And yet. I remember this novel vividly despite reading it several weeks ago. I may even one day read it again because I feel like it needs a second reading to fully appreciate what the author has done. 

It is definitely a book you need to read yourself to gain an accurate opinion on.

This was a review copy kindly gifted by HarperCollins in exchange for an honest review, which I think I have achieved.