A review by cdavidcousins
Or What You Will by Jo Walton

5.0

Sylvia Harrison is an award winning novelist who has written thirty novels over forty years and, now, at 73, seeks solace from her impending death by taking a trip to Florence. She takes meals for one at restaurants, but she never eats alone. Within her, with its own spark and its own plan, is her muse, her spark of ideas that she has embodied in almost all her novels as a character…a scholar, a dragon, a warrior, a lover, a thief…a god. It has no name but no wish to die and it thinks it has a way to save them both.
This is the premise of a novel of intricate, detailed, lovingly crafted prose that sucks you in despite the absurd premise.
It is a story of a life well lived, in every sense, and a story of hope for stories to come.