An absolutely extraordinary novel, possessing a wondrous imaginative scope and a uncompromising, often unnerving strangeness that makes it very difficult to describe. It's also difficult to recommend without fair warning: it is unrelentingly weird, dense, difficult, and in many ways its true meanings are obscure. But still, I devoured it.This is the second book in the series, and even though I picked it up without having read the first (actually I found an old paperback copy on the street) I got sucked into it all the same. The world and its oddities are rendered with perfect clarity. The characters are striking and memorable.There is a quality that this novel has that is rare among even the best fantasy and science fiction: much like the invented myths and miracles that shape the lives of its characters, this story is certain of its own truth, its own reality. It reads more like history than fiction.