This book has the most heartrendingly lyrical prose I have ever read. This is because the author really uses the language, and to sometimes devastatingly good effect. There are chapters that routinely make me weep.
Behind a fairy story, you will also find substantial themes of loss, happiness and immortality. The book demands a lot of the reader, asking them questions like "Can beauty be permanent?", "Does joy come from something external?", "Is time a real thing?" and then happily cavorts off, distracting you with silly anachronisms and jests.
It is at the same time the pinnacle of the fantasy genre, and a lampoon of it. In fact, this book wears so many hats at once, that it amazes me that it is able to do so with such grace, while, to my mind, still being a bonafide work of art.
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