The "genre-busting" novel spans numerous types of literature, with critics identifying aspects of fantasy, science fiction, mystery, satire, romance, and thriller. This led one critic to jokingly suggest that Fforde "must have jotted a bundle of unrelated ideas on slips of paper", and, "instead of tossing them in a hat and choosing a few topics as the focus of his story, grabbed the whole hat." Fforde's quirky writing style has led to comparisons with other notable writers, most frequently Douglas Adams, for similar "surrealism and satire", and Lewis Carroll, for similar "nonsense and wordplay".