Like the first novel in this trilogy, The Rebel Angels, this is less a novel than an extended philosophical riff by the author. Most of the characters are indistinguishable from each other when they speak; they're obvious stand-ins for Davies' musings on life . But while there's more of a story this time around, this one is charmless. The characters are pretentious and self-important, and by the halfway point they start to grate. It's strange that The Rebel Angels somehow works, when it really doesn't tell much of a story and goes on for pages at a time on a soapbox. What's Bred In The Bone is a proper novel and a great one. But The Lyre Of Orpheus has little to recommend it, other than an interesting look at the creation of an opera. Davies tries too hard to infuse everything with meaning and life lessons and it was all too much for me. I wanted a story; what I got was a boozy after-dinner conversation between academics that went on too long.