This is one of the strangest books I've ever read. It's a thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle, and every time I think I know where he's going, he throws in a few more pieces that dramatically change the picture. Another author would probably have needed 700-800 pages in order to include all of the plot elements, but Powers pulls it off in under 400. I'm only giving it four stars instead of five, because the complexity of the story required him to introduce fascinating characters who have important functions in some parts of the book, but then disappear in the other parts.

It also had some of the most horrific ideas I've ever encountered. [spoiler alert:] One of the bad guys is a freaky clown named Horrabin. I'm not one of those people who's scared of clowns, but after reading this book I understand such people. Anyway, he has a dungeon underneath London where he performs magical experiments on people, making them into horrific monstrosities. Yeesh.

There's also a "werewolf." It's a guy who grows hair all over his body, and after a week or two, he switches bodies with someone else, taking over their body and forcing their souls, consciousness, psyches, or whatever into the body he just vacated. He does it in such a way that the old body is only moments away from death, so the person suddenly finds himself in a completely different body and about to die. Horrific.