Not great

I'm not sure how I stumbled across this book but it wasn't a happy accident. The book has a very unstructured plot set in a world that is never really explained very well. I believe that was meant to be confusing to mirror the main character's confusion but it just felt like a jumbled mess.

The world is one heavy on concepts and ideas, a bit like The Wizard of Oz on LSD. They are assisted by a Prince of Cats, a librarian and two law enforcers of some sort. Initially they are on the run for a crime they didn't commit but everyone realises they were innocent somehow.

The two main characters fall in love for no discernable reason. The passage of time is screwy and I don't really know why we are supposed to care. It's a bit like the old Dungeons and Dragons TV show except the main character isn't trapped in a fair ground ride.

The writing has description issues as well as pacing problems. It meanders until the final third when the characters have a definitive goal and everything starts to pick up a bit and form a proper narrative. The dialogue isn't spectacular either and the character interactions were often bizarre.

The narration was unusually poor both from the narrator who speaks in a dull monotone (I believe her voice must have been slowed down) and the production who left in multiple repeated sentences throughout.

Overall, I would not recommend this book. Fish has talent, as demostrated by the competent final third of this book, but the Alice-In-Wonderland-on-crack style world was not his forte.

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