maybe i'll come back to this one day because i don't like to leave things unfinished, but this book was a pretty big disappointment. conceptually its right up my alley but the execution falls flat. how am i SO bored when everything is happening so fast and so much at the point i stopped at! why am i not attached to these characters after going through so much with them! in a book club meeting for this book i described it as a beautiful house that i, the reader, was not allowed inside except for occasionally where i could look for a moment and not touch anything before being ushered out. and i also stand by that this book would be more interesting if the place it had started was earlier in the timeline of this world. to quote aretha franklin, great gowns, beautiful gowns