This is probably simplest if I review it in a comparison with Pride and Prejudice. It's quite a lot of fun. Pride and Prejudice signals the ending pretty darn early, and from then on it's a case of just finding out how it gets there, and enjoying the silliness of the characters along the way. This book doesn't signal the ending up-front, so there's actually some suspense in the plot, and it even gets a little twisty towards the end!
Whereas the other book is mostly full of silly characters, this one is full of a fair number of actually pretty mean ones, which in a way is just as enjoyable. This book has more depth and... I think it's reasonable to say it's basically better. It's a little more effort to read, but still great stuff, and the extra effort's worth it.
Posted 2010-04-27.