" "Did the Clarks always speak in extended metaphors like metaphysical poets? Julia would have needed a literary criticism class in order to interpret their allusions"....-seriously Julia? Not the Clarks,it's YOU and Gabriel that speak in extended metaphors and allusions that make the readers need a class just to understand. Reading this book is like reading a purple prose from the 18th century or reading a grossly misshapen parody. Unlike other reviewers,I could easily believe that a male author wrote this book because the main female character is filled with inconsistencies and is unrealistic. The author tried to daintily create her like a Botticelli angel but some of her thoughts and behaviors just didn't add up to the whole "tender, delicate, naiive butterfly virgin" image of hers. Paul and others tried to refrain from cussing or using the "F-" word in front of her seeing how she would flush, yet she herself uses the word in front of people more than once. In the beginning, it's apparent that Julia holds strong and tender feelings towards the Professor yet she thought of him as "sicko" twice for no apparent reason and before she even really knew anything about him. Paul and Gabriel both treat her like some real life angel with no vices and she herself doesn't protest to this treatment, taking it like her due and actually expecting to be treated like an angel, a "princess". I don't know about other people, but it just made her look selfish and full of self-importance to me, her not wanting to be "consumed by Gabriel's darkness"...
I enjoy reading books where I get to learn something, some history, some new topic etc. I get that Reynard is a smart individual who knows his stuff, but I didn't appreciate that he stuffed his book to the brim with as many allusions to authors,books, and poetry as he could find. It didn't feel like it connected, maybe to others, just not to me... "
— Avidread, 2/8/2014