I had high hopes about this book, and sadly, those hopes were dispatched literally 100 pages into the book. The exaggerated writing style didn't bother me as much as the plodding narrative. In my view, everything seemed contrived. There's a story in here to tell, a damn fine one at that, but it just wasn't done in this book. A prequel would have been helpful, or at least a few chapters as a historical backdrop.