so this was my first time reading neil gaiman & honestly, I had pretty high expectations since Coraline is one of my favorite movies of all time. however, I just couldn't get into this book. for one, I'm not really a huge fan of modern fantasy/hidden fantasy worlds, but I do think they can be done well (like in Coraline). unfortunately, this one was not. there were definitely some cool ideas here: I was really interested in the marquis de carabas, in the black friars, and the idea of these ancient evils and angels. but the world-building felt so vague and the main characters were so surface-level, that I found it really hard to maintain focus. that being said, the ending was quite good - just wish the rest of the story held up!