I'm having a really hard time trying to sort out how I feel about this book. On one hand, it was absolutely beautiful, mostly serene, and sometimes heartbreaking, but it wasn't what I expected. First and foremost, when I read that there was a "fierce competition" on the blurb on the back, the actual events of the competition were not anything like I had thought. I expected epic magic fights, with the two of them attacking each other with illusions or...something. That is not at all what happened. It was kind of disappointing, but the novel wouldn't have been what it was without those epic creations. So I guess it's for the best that things happened the way they did. That doesn't completely keep me from being disappointed, though. Oh well. 
 Other things that bothered, in list form so I can go do something else: 
 1) The small sections where everything was suddenly in second person. It's an interesting framing device, and I think I understand why they were included, I just didn't like them. I think the story would have been better without the author trying to artificially draw you in. 
 2) How the heck did Celia and Marco turn out anything even approaching normal? Their childhoods were so screwed up, and I honestly don't think they ended up being screwed up enough in response to it. In all fairness, I may not have been reading them right, but they honestly didn't seem off at all to me. 
 3) There are no words for the hate I feel for Prospero and Alexander. Haaaaate. But I completely agree with Celia: they are both cowards, even if neither of them will ever admit it. 
 4) A little nitpicky, but I felt the occasional sentence fragments weren't really done well. They weren't terribly intrusive, really. It's just that every time I came across one, I reread it to make sure I hadn't skipped over the beginning of the sentence or something. It may be because I'm exhausted (I did not sleep well at all last night, if the three nightmares are anything to judge by), but...whatever. I know I use sentence fragments a lot in my writing, so someone else's fragments really shouldn't bother me. Oh well. 
 Otherwise I quite enjoyed the story. You can tell because I read nearly four hundred pages today without stopping, and may possibly have skipped breakfast and lunch in favor of reading. Maybe I should eat something, huh?