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Title: Pages 100-680 could have been abridged into 100 pages
Review: Lubji's transformation into Player and Armstrong all made sense. But then Armstrong's character was divorced from early development. From clever and observant and linguistically talented, Armstrong became an ill-mannered boor with Henry VIII's eating habits . . . all without explanation. Great opportunity for character exploration was sacked. Keith was never a mystery, driven with an occasional hormonic urge. There was no need to jump back and forth between the early decades of their lives. I kept on looking for the purpose of the jumping around but there was none to be found. Crisp but empty. The only good lesson was about bargaining around page 48. I finished it only because I'm compulsive. After all that disappointment, cutesy ending was insulting. Those of us who survived deserved more. Lazy, lazy work.
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