This period-peice unravels itself as though it were a screenplay, having had all of its plot/character development guts ripped out due to time contstraints. It successfully plods along with enough verve and wit to make this an easy-read, but nothing grabs you, there's nobody with whom to empathize.A love story 'written in the stars' means soo little when there's nothing to explain their call to action.. In the end, Gilling's tale comes off with about as much potency as the strip-mall prophetics of a guy in a Sasquache costume, holding a sign proclaiming "Monster Deals on Sealy, Simmons, and Tempur-Pedic."Now a story of Tobias Smith's (balloonist) tragic fall into social pariah status would have been interesting!DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME (unless between the ages of 13-18)