What I loved:

1) Again, I'm a sucker for a way-out-west pioneer story. Just love 'em. And the more settlement details the better.

2) Chocked full of historical tidbits of the Pacific Northwest. Made me want to move there right now (so what if I'm a few centuries late...)

3) The stark unromanticism of Dillard's story-telling. It made everything feel very authentically harsh and unforgiving---pretty apropo for the setting.

What I hated:

1) Like another reviewer, I wasn't all that interested in ANY of the characters, and I felt like Dillard wasn't terribly passionate about any of them either.

2) Not enough dialouge for my taste. I need a little human interaction to understand the characters' motives.

3) Beal Oberchain. I thought he was going to be a real, honest to goodness trouble-making nutter. He turned out to just be a somewhat irritating nutter. I never fully understood Clare's reaction to Beal's threat. I felt like it was a bit contrived and not terribly genuine.