Hmmm… Having never read the first book, I did at first wonder if this was only going to appeal to returning audiences. But I don't think it matters in the end – but I still don't think this is a classic. The framing device hammers morals down (and drops into religion, at the worst moment), and the actual 'story' itself is not hugely brilliant. It's a self-help book designed to show how you can change your ideas, break out of comfort zones (either of being or thinking) and discover new possibilities, which are what you need when change has happened and the Plan A of stopping dead in your tracks really does seem to favour the 'dead' part of things. Oh, and how having hope (or, indeed, Hope), is a help. It's not completely facile, even if it does occur in a weird fantasy maze realm, but it's not brilliant. At times the whole book is either being too wishy-washy or too tub-thumping, but then again, seldom do these books hit the right balance. Or so I believe...