Title: Why Isn't This Book Better Known?
Review: Tremendous! Over the first half of this great book Michel Faber sloooowly plays out the setting, gradually answering your question of "What's going on here?" His mastery of tone and exposition is really something for a first-time author. When you finally understand the story's context, for the second half of the book Faber explores the main character Isserley's gradually arrived-at decisions about her own future, which emerge from her bitterness at her own past experiences. I know, I know, that doesn't seem to tell you much, but this is one of those books whose plot cannot be revealed in any detail -- you just have to read it! Told in wonderful prose, the book really sweeps you along. Yeah, I really couldn't put it down. It functions on so many levels, as social critique, as suspense thriller, and as fantasy. As my review title says, why isn't it better known? I can easily envision it as a "cult classic" for years to come.
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