I don't read books--even great books--more than once. There are too many good (and great) ones out there, and as the T-shirt says, too little time. But I'll make an exception for Chime. I'm certain I'll be reading it again. Maybe not cover to cover, but whenever I get hungry for something special, I'll sample a taste--rich, sweet, bitter, unexpected, nourishing, enlightening, inspiring, appetizing--from somewhere in this feast of imagination, preparation, and writing prowess.

I heard Franny Billingsley speak at a conference in the spring. She considers herself a slow writer, and I suppose if you judge her on her output, she is. She took probably a dozen years between her last novel and this one. But the time she takes isn't spent twiddling her thumbs. The time she takes in this case resulted in a near-perfect book where every word, phrase, passage, scene is engaging and magical and evocative and poetic, the pieces all fit, there's no fat that should've been cut out but wasn't, the characters are authentic, and the ending is satisfying and sticks to your ribs like Mom's slow-cooked stew.

Don't like fantasy? Read it anyway. It's about much more than fantasy.