S. is an experience, that's for sure. This experience is the sum of two stories; the first is the novel, The Ship of Theseus, that is printed traditional in the text, the second is the story of two readers told through the marginalia - commentary on the text and notes to each other. 
 The Ship of Theseus is supposedly the last novel of V.M. Straka, an author whose works spawn whole academic departments at universities around the world. As such, anything printed representing the works of this fictional author should be 'a classic'. Ship of Theseus misses the mark as a supposed classic. It's interesting. It's obviously metaphorical, referring to events we don't really know. Perhaps it's a bit like The Master and Margerita that way - referencing Soviet politics that just aren't readily understood by folks on this side of the Cold War. The difference being that 'Straka's' works refer to fictional events and literature that can't be researched to gain better understanding. 
 And that's where the marginalia comes in. At first they help to give the reader the idea that they're investing in a larger world and give us context. It works to some extent. The margins, along with additional inserted notes and scraps, also add up to fairly round characters, surprisingly. These scribbles are also supposed to build a mystery about the author, filled with codes in the text and out in the world. In this latter attempt, the story is weak. 
 So, S. is made up of two stories fed out simultaneously, both of which are sort of 3-star efforts on their own. I rate this a 4 and could almost go higher because the design of this experience is outstanding. The way the two stories interact makes it a bit better than the sum of its parts, but the best part is the print/paper quality and the inserts. The text and design is straight out of the 1940s. The tactile experience of the paper and case - it's brilliantly aged, you need to get your fingers on this. S. is a 5-star production.