The author did a good job of describing the characters. I could picture them in my head easily. I think the idea of the marble with a serpent in it was cool. The story itself was very original. I've never read anything like it before.
However, the pace of the book was very slow and could have benefitted from more action, especially in the middle. The mystery was easy to figure out and not a surprise at the end. There were a few dream sequences that were strange and sometimes hard to follow because some were italicized and others were not.
