a dreamlike sense of having failed him, as if I’d botched some vital fairy-tale task through clumsiness and ignorance.
so many flowery sentences that don't really say anything but it doesn't seem to matter as the floweriness and exposition (getting on with the story) is all that really seems to matter...
"a dreamlike sense of having failed him..." what the hell does that mean? Not believing you failed, but then perceiving some disappointment regardless? Why is that dreamlike? What does dreamlike mean in this context?
"...some vital fairy-tale task..." so is it vital or a fairy-tale, which either denotes unrealistic expectation or or an unreal task.
If you actually look at these sentences and pick them apart, they are incredibly... clumsy and ignorant.
