This book was kind of a mess. I have to admit I wasn't the biggest fan of Cloud Atlas so I really had no desire to read The Bone Clocks. But fate intervened... I saw it at the library and as one of the groups I belong to here on goodreads had it as its February group read I thought what the heck. I have to admit I enjoyed the ensuing discussions in that group more than I enjoyed the book. Not that the book is all bad because it's not. There are some really interesting chapters, some fun chapters. It's just the sum seemed smaller than its parts somehow. I'm not big on a book that introduces new characters over and over with each new section only to basically ignore them in later chapters. That just jars my reading momentum and makes me question what the heck I am reading? A collection of short stories? A novel? Make up your mind. Too much like Cloud Atlas in that regard. I'm not a fan of magical realism either but that's okay because this book kind of bypassed that whole genre and leapt right into fantasy. And I'm fine with that. It's just this book lacked a human pulse to quote my beloved Mars Volta. I was left feeling kind of empty and disappointed. There was no character in which I felt emotionally invested. A lot of reading and no real reward.