There are several narratives here, and Goodman is talented as ever at allowing each character's personality and emotions to come through, to let you see them as very different people. There is poetry, all kinds of love and betrayal and the shedding of many metaphorical chrysalis. It could easily have been really tacky and juvenile and instead, I felt convinced by the characters and the events. Having said that, I didn't enjoy the whole game thing - maybe you had to be a gamer to understand and like it, but I didn't, so maybe that's why. The characters were flawed yet fascinating. That's really why I enjoyed this book so much. It lacked a powerful emotional punch for me, which may have been the delicate understatement of Goodman's style, but it was okay.