I had... issues... with this book. The first part was, of course, getting past the Soviet-era antagonism and accepting it as what it was: a convenient antagonist at the time.

I generally don't like books that have maps inside; like maybe if the author was better at conveying a complicated story, then we wouldn't need a map? This one DEFINITELY need a map. I spent the entire damn thing trying to just understand the world they were moving around in. Maybe that makes me stupid, but I don't know that's the case. Even though he spends the whole first half of this 500 page novel describing things, I still couldn't really see what this world was supposed to look like.

That said, I willingly bungled my way through, accepting that the locations didn't matter as much as the characters and plot. I came up a bit short there, as there really isn't much of a plot, at least, not in the first 400 pages. I would say that all but one of the main characters we meet are NEVER instigators of major action in the plot, and we ultimately find out that ALL of the actions of the main characters is rendered moot by the out-of-left-field ending.

I learn after reading it that it has a sequel that continues the story. I dunno...