A review by kleonard
Or What You Will by Jo Walton

2.0

This heavily meta-conceptual novel is divided into two kinds of narration: a second/third-person narration by an author's imaginary friend/alter ego/internal voice, and a fantasy novel, drawing heavily on Shakespeare, that the author is writing during the timeframe of the book. I enjoyed the imaginary friend narrative a lot--it's engaging and different and a pleasure to read. It is full of fun and quirky and useful references to other books and written works. But the other half--the Shakespeare-influenced world in which Miranda has sons with both Caliban and Ferdinand (Called Ferrante) and in which visitors from the "real world" drop in and in which technological progress has been halted in exchange for an end to death--rapidly became too pedantic, much like Walton's Thessaly novels. So this is very much a mixed bag for me.