Science Fiction

I actually just read it for the first time in the past few days too. After all the hype, I was a bit let down although I still found it somewhat engaging. Its real strength is the dreamlike style, although that often seemed conscious and artificial - I occasionally became very aware that I was reading something the author had intentionally crafted to be stylistic, which took me out of the experience. I was surprised by how little happened over the course of the book, how little characterization there was (apart from the main character, largely fleshed out through constant flashbacks rather than a sense of her personality), and how flat the dialogue was. The way of alluding to the indescribable and incomprehensible was enjoyable, but nothing new. I'll still read the next two though (already started the second).

I also found their mind-control depiction of hypnosis to be a bit unrealistic for my liking. I know it's a book about reality warping madness, but it seemed like everything outside of Area X was supposed to be essentially present day reality, which the hypnosis isn't.