This book started off as something I couldn't put down, and threw me for a loop a dozen times. It transforms from a fish-out-of-water university story to a spiritual pantheon epic, back around to a speculative-fiction take on the Japanese Imperial occupation of main-land China, back around to the internalized trauma of war, all while centering itself on the notion of choice(and lack-there-of in some cases), with compelling(but always flawed) characters pulling you through.

Looking forward to where book two takes me.