While reading, I mean rapidly skimming, this novel, the words tedious and ordinary came to mind.

There is quite a bit of humor, but the story is well-wor While reading, I mean rapidly skimming, this novel, the words tedious and ordinary came to mind. It is not a fantasy, and not nearly as clever or exciting as last year's slightly similar submission. Here the verbal frippery grows tiresome quickly. Some of the devices, such as eyebrow lifting as communication, he has used before. Also, this Victorian novel is full of anachronisms, which elicited groans from me.