Like the author, I am fascinated by the beings we share this planet with, and despairing at how we are destroying those beings and this planet. When reading the beautifully-written bits that resonate with me, I feel myself ringing like a swiftly-struck gong.

But he also writes about women/drugs/murder/destruction in ways I do not relate to, and those bits I find myself skipping over, or reading as quickly as possible just to be done with them.

Overall I find it a breathtaking, non-linear, not always enjoyable and yet truly remarkable read.

Crow Road wasn’t an easy read for me; I had to work to understand it. But as I found the challenge (and the writing) extremely enjoyable, I think this is a brilliant book.

My comprehension difficulties were twofold. First, Crow Road is very much a Scottish book, and doesn’t appear to have been Americanized (Americanised?) for US publication. Result: I spent a lot of time with the OED looking up words and expressions I didn’t know. Since I love dictionary spelunking this was more than fine with me.

The second challenge was due to the writing style. Sudden switches between times and characters and points of view were tremendously confusing at first. As I grew more used to the style, and got to know the characters, time frames and locations better, I found it invigorating rather than frustrating.

So the (eventually) enjoyable challenges of comprehension, plus very clever, often funny writing, and interesting characters and plot twists, made Crow Roada fascinating read for me.

I usually like historical fiction, and am interested in both Classical and British history, so I thought I would enjoy this book, but I *really* didn't. I found it poorly written, with both plot and prose *way* over the top at times. The occasional bodice-ripper tone was annoying, and the many historically inaccurate details were distracting. It’s unfortunate that such great material was dealt with so poorly.

I had trouble getting over (what I took to be) translation issues. Much of the language felt stilted, and I often found myself stuck on a particular word or phrase, wondering what on earth the original might have been. This did not improve the already uneven flow of the narrative. I also found the plot too melodramatic, and several of the characters too unidimensional for my taste. In its favor, there were some descriptive passages and scenes that were really lovely, and I enjoyed learning more about the historical era of the book.