___Received ARC for early review__

First off, this book is a beautiful object. ALl printed in a lovely shade of blue ink, with matching hand-drawn borders printed on each page. They're lovely drawings, not obtrusive but just sortof there, as though you're reading in a park and there's a breeze catching at the corner of your attention. There's the occasional full page illustration, also lovely, also unobtrusive. They don't pull you out of the story but they do hold your attention long enough to add to it. I imagine the actual hardback will be stunning.

The story itself? Probably only four stars. It's a little too real to be a fable, but a little too fabulous to be real. I think it's aiming for the level of fantasy of Marquez, or of some of Calvino's tamer works, but it doesn't commit quite fully enough. This is dipping a toe into something that needed a swan dive into the deep end. Still with that criticism, I would read the author's next works, in the hopes that time would give her the confidence to go farther from shore. Even if it doesn't, this book was a story worth reading.