Connie Willis is one of my favorite authors, and her works were absolutely formative for my teenaged self, but this novella didn’t quite work for me. I was fascinated by the descriptions of Ozymandias Books (gosh, I would love to spend a week there!) and I was very amused by Jim’s increasingly outlandish attempts to rationalize what he was seeing, which showcased Ms. Willis’ witty humor. Unfortunately, though, the rest of the story felt heavy-handed, and I finished the story feeling unsatisfied by the resolution. It felt like revenge on Jim for his previous beliefs, and it did have a bit of fairy tale feeling in that sense – that of the person who’s gone to fairyland and comes back somehow irrevocably broken by the knowledge he’s gained. Irregardless of my feelings, it was thought-provoking for me, as I’m one of those readers who’s switched pretty much entirely to ebooks and only buy physical books at library book sales (which are then usually donated again once I’ve read them) or, rarely, signed copies from favorite authors.
Overall, even though I didn’t care for it that much, since it’s so short I think I would still recommend this to bibliophiles.
I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
