Engrossing . . . the reader falls under the spell that the author is weaving, surrendering to the story's exotic magic * The Times * Remarkable . . . a novel that immerses the reader in a distant world with startling immediacy and ardor -- Michiko Kakutani * New York Times * A virtuoso tale, cast in the Burmese colonial wars of the 1880s . . . Mason [adds] a depth of quirky historical knowledge and a feel for the brutal politics of colonialism, to create a complex and subtly imagined adventure . . . with echoes of other books: Heart of Darkness, of course, and A Handful of Dust . . . a highly dextrous and involving performance * Observer * Intriguing and alluring . . . those strange images of Europe meeting the east, of the east engulfing Europe, linger like a haunting tune * Guardian * An ambitious, adventuresome, highly unusual first novel that offers pleasures too rarely encountered in contemporary American literary fiction . . . [Mason is] a gifted, original and courageous writer * Washington Post * Luminous . . . Mason's writing achieves that kind of reverie in which every vision, tone, flavor and sensation is magnified * Los Angeles Times *