This is a very good book. I don't really know what to say about it other than that. I'll probably need to read it several times, and then let it decant for a year or two.

The writing is magnificent. On occasion, there are telling intertextualities: there are long chapters which are redolent of Kafka (the schema of the book is quite similar to 'The Castle'). There are echoes of Gene Wolfe, Samuel Delaney or of Neil Gaiman's Sandman comics. Perhaps Walker Percy. Or Bunyan.

Although the main character is male, as are many of the actants, there are several strong women, including the lost wife who, at first, I feared might be little more than a McGuffin, but who, while she is not seen directly, plays an important role as a character in the story. i suspect she is one aspect of the goddess.