Man, I had super high hopes for this one. In the end, I could not connect with the writing and DNF'ed the book. I would definitely give the author another shot and try them again.

-- This review is several years past the release date due to the many issues of 2020, but a huge thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an early copy of the book.

I’m clearly a child of the 90s as all I could think when there is a segment about naming our narrator was Never Ending Story. Which made me giggle and took away any semblance of deep soul searching that might have been happening in this book. Added to that it’s a bit haphazard of a read. I’m sure English lit majors would be happy to tell me how brilliant it is; but for me it was okay. Or what It Will is the type of book I’m liable to forget about by next year. Which is unusual as I have really enjoyed Jo Walton's works in the past.

The biggest thing about this that should have been exciting, but ended up being confusing, was that our narrator is unreliable. Normally an unreliable narrator is the best! You have to read between the lines, get a gist for their bias and preferred outcome. While that is all here and present with our narrator; the reality is that they are not really the main character. The 'author' actually is. The narrator is telling the author's story; and then relating it to his existence. Now this is relevant as the narrator is the muse inside the authors head (more or less) and so does not exist with them. As the story goes on this idea of who exists where and when gets more convoluted. It is not helped by the idea that the narrator needs a name, or when the narrator starts to talk to us, the reader. I wish I like this more. It could be a super cool 'break the third wall' type of literature. But instead it just got a bit haphazard for me.

What I did enjoy however were Walton's tidbits and comments on writing good fiction; especially certain genres. If you are an aspiring writer you could get really great tidbits on what not to do from the discussions the narrator and the author have that we are privy to. If you look closely enough it's possible Walton has actually explained how best to avoid these many pitfalls. I was a bit distracted and less engaged at times (as our narrator was a bit verbose) and so likely missed some great tidbits. This lengthy narration is why I say this book is likely a literary major's dream. There is a lot that could (I think) be unpacked here. Especially about how characters in stories come to life, where ideas are generated from, and in general how people consume stories.

If you want something a bit wild, definitely weird, and certainly introspective on writing then Or What You Will might be for you. If you're looking for a lighter, fun read I would avoid this Walton story. But don't let it have you avoided her work entirely as Jo Walton has some wonderful pieces out there!

Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.

Thanks to NetGalley for an e-arc of this in exchange for an honest review.

I know it's my job as recipietn of this e-arc to review it for you, but honestly, I think there are people who had a better grasp of the story than I did because as much as I admire Walton for what she was going for here, I certainly wasn't the right audience.

This is a very meta book that tells multiples stories inside of stories, paying homages to past literary works while looking at the nature of life and the inevitable end of it. The story is told from the perspective of a "character" that a dying author has used in multiple stories. That character is described to have had been "cast" as various figures in her books, but he also lives outside them, in a metaphorical sense. If this book was strictly a conversation between this character and the author, I think I would have loved it, but because Walton sought to have a deeper exploration of story telling, I was inevitably lost.

We find ourselves inside multiple stories at different points in time, and I honestly remember very little about them. I found them far less interesting than the larger plot connecting them together. What's more, I just don't think I am well versed enough in the material to appreciate what Walton was doing.

That's what makes this book so hard to review. It is not objectively bad. It is masterfully written from author who has a great deal of passion and knowledge of her craft. It is, however, too much for me. I am not the right audience despite how badly I wanted to be. I wish I could be on her level. That is why I am not giving this a rating (at least on my goodreads shelf) because I don't want people to see this book and think it isn't worth reading because I (or a bunch of other people) just didn't get it. There is an audience for this, and if you think you might be a part of that, please give this book a try. It deserves to be read in my opinion.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy of this title, but I've tried starting it several times and just can't get into it so I'm afraid I'll have to DNF.

Amo Jo Walton, e mi stupisco sempre della ricchezza e della varietà delle sue idee e della consumata abilità con cui le mette su carta.
Questo romanzo non fa eccezione, e anzi l'ho amato di più per il tema metaletterario e per la punta di autoironia che solo una grande scrittrice può permettersi.

Introspective and thoughtful, this is a book that takes its time and really focus on asking questions of the reader. Sylvia was an interesting character and her relationship with the world she’s writing is quite interesting. Unfortunately, there’s a lot about the book that didn’t strike a chord with me. I suspect if I were more familiar with Jo Walton’s previous work and Shakespeare's the Twelfth Night, as it definitely felt there were references that I wasn’t getting.

If you’re looking for something fast-paced or really plot-heavy, this is not the book for you, but it is told in a style that’s easy to get into and if you’re looking for something thoughtful, slow-paced, and a tad self-indulgent it’s a good fit. I suspect it’s an even better fit if you’re a writer looking for those things!

Like many readers out there, I have a massive backlog of books that I'm desperately trying to read through. Among that list would be everything written by Jo Walton. Naturally, that means I had to make time to read Or What You Will.

Sylvia Harrison is a beloved and award-winning author. Her words come to life, thanks in part to her attention to detail – and character building. One of those characters lives within her mind, waiting for the right world.

However, unlike her novels, Sylvia is not immortal, and time is running out to find the perfect world for this cherished character. And so, a new world, Thalia, is born.

"Writers are not nice people. We can't be."

If you're looking for an in-depth read that will force you to stop and think, Or What You Will is the novel for you. From the description, this book may sound very tongue-in-cheek (and perhaps a little meta)—an author writing about an author, and all that.

However, it actually goes quite a bit deeper than that. It's a challenge for the readers, one that I believe to be intentional. This might have been off-putting if not for the fact that it also feels as if Jo Walton sliced off a piece of her soul and wove it into the narrative.

Ultimately, I would have to say that this is not a book for everyone. It has the potential to be loved and cherished – much like that mysterious character. But it also has the potential to be too much at times. I'll have to leave that one to each individual reader to decide.

Reading a Jo Walton novel is like having a chance to step into her brain and spend a little time there. You get the sense that she comes up with an idea for a project, and she sees that project through for her own curiosity and enjoyment, and we just happen to be there, as an audience.

This novel felt very much like a "what if" story that she came up with and then started weaving in various literary elements just to see what happened. It feels like the kind of book an author could only write after having practiced the craft for years and now she's sort of just running circles around us and showing off - in the best possible way.

I say all of this not to condemn or to imply that the book was selfish in any way - what a treat for readers to get to go on this ride with her. This book gave me some really strong Guy Gavriel Kay feelings which I loved, as an added bonus.

This was my first Jo Walton book, and I think I will find that it is possibly the most intimate as well. It's not really fantasy, if you think about it. It's almost a memoir of sorts, with Jo Walton giving their musings on the trials and tribulations of life, interspersed with their great love for the city of Venezia, which gets a lot of mention here. This would not ever be a debut book, or even a book published by any author without Jo Walton's reputation and say -- it's simply way too metafictional to capture the interests of a broader SF/F audience on its own.

However, I did enjoy this, despite not having read Jo Walton before. I think for people seeking to get into SF/F who are more used to a literary style outside of it, this could be a useful gateway. Sometimes, you just want to sit down, have a glass of wine and think deep thoughts about the universe and how we might go through it. Or What You Will was that kind of experience for me.

I am a member of the American Library Association Reading List Award Committee. This title was suggested for the 2021 list. It was not nominated for the award. The complete list of winners and shortlisted titles is at <a href="https://rusaupdate.org/2021/02/2021-reading-list-years-best-in-genre-fiction-for-adult-readers/">

This book certainly has its audience, but I'm not part of it.

The writing is good, but the content is pretty dense.

Every Jo Walton book I've read has been a little esoteric, experimental in some way, and never the same way twice. This book wasn't much like anything else of hers I've read, although the muse character had echoes in her other books, of course, and her love of Italy is a thread in many. I loved the tongue-in-cheek references to her other novels, and their joke titles. Maybe it's an acquired taste, but I like how she always keeps you guessing what she's going to try next.

Or What You Will by Jo Walton belongs to the tradition of beautiful cozy books about books. A love letter to Shakespeare, fantasy, and alternate histories, the story follows Sylvia, an author, from the perspective of a nameless narrator who has appeared throughout Sylvia’s novels as a collection of different characters. With meta layers of storytelling that take us through Sylvia’s life, the history of Florence, the fictionalized world of Shakespeare’s Italy, and the imagined version of Sylvia’s Illyria, the novel explores art’s power to create change.

I loved this book, and even did a quick podcast about it: https://www.theincomparable.com/recentlyread/52/

Such a cool concept and executed well. This is the style of writing I like from Walton and is reminiscent of her other books like Among Others or My Real Children. Clever, inventive, and just fun to read.

This was my first Jo Walton book to read, but I several colleagues enjoy her work. It was well written, but not something I would go out of my way to read again.

Not my favorite Jo Walton novel, but I enjoyed it.
Honestly, though, I wish it was longer... I wanted to know a little bit more about some of the characters, and the world the author had built over her career.

(let's hope this isn't autobiographical...)

This book defies description in so many ways. It's a story about stories and an unusual weaving of Shakespeare’s The Tempest and Twelfth Night together. It's a bit erudite and extra twisty--and if you are a writer or a very serious reader (or a lover of Italia) that will be extra helpful. I thoroughly enjoyed this strange, fantastical, poetic novel.

Thanks NetGalley and Tor for the early read.

Imagine a world that unites Shakespeare’s two plays, As You Like It and Twelfth Night. Imagine that world as a fantasy series by a contemporary author, determined to finish the series before she dies of cancer. Imagine the narrator being her muse, the solace of her wretched childhood, now determined to save her life by transforming her into a character in her own world, where death comes about only by an act of will. That’s a very rough description of this ground-breaking novel, liberally sprinkled with fascinating forays into the Renaissance – its artists, architects, and thinkers. Illyria, the creation of the author, Sylvia, is an idealized Renaissance Florence frozen in time, set apart from “Progress.”

Effortless prose, nuanced layering of past, present, and the world of the imagination, add up to a rich and complex reading experience. If only Sylvia’s “Illyria” books were real, we’d all get to run away there.

* Disclaimer: I received a copy of this novel from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. *

There is an audience out there for this book, but I discovered that I am not a part of it. The writing is good, but the approach to the narrative is awkward and I found myself slogging through the pages. The construction felt confusing and was quite poor for my experience. In fact, it nearly put me in a reading slump out of frustration.

Readers need to be aware before going into this book that it is a dense read that requires time and a slow, pensive read. It is very stream of consciousness and definitely holds up to its claim to be meta. Readers also need to have some background understanding of Roman mythology and Shakespeare, as there are a LOT of references and the book is definitely based upon a firm knowledge of The Tempest and Twelfth Night. Without this preparation, there is a lot that will be missed.

For those who do love Shakespeare and can handle the stream of consciousness approach that includes occasional heavy digression, this will be an enjoyable read. Walton does have talent in her writing and her prose is quite lyrically beautiful.

In my experience, I could appreciate some of the meta parallels created between Sylvia's world and her book creation, but there wasn't a lot of progressive plot that kept me interested. There was a lot of implication and not enough storytelling. It felt like two separate books shoved together and I received no satisfaction from either one in the end.

I also had difficulty with the character. I was interested in them at the beginning, but as the book went on it felt like the reader was held at arm's length and I really wasn't allowed to know them fully. This left them a bit flat on the page. The only character who did allow some insight was Sylvia, and even with her I wanted more truth.

This book does have its merits and, as I said in the beginning, there are definitely readers who will fall in love with this. I do caution potential readers to go in prepared and select this carefully though, as for many it will not be comprehensible and enjoyable read.