As per usual I will not give a star rating on a book that just wasn’t clicking for me. I actually got about half way before putting it aside. I liked the first book but this one was a no go.

Reason Read: British author challenge.
This was a new author for me and this is in the category of SFF, humor, and series YouSpace, book 2.
It was an entertaining read about the multiverse, unlikely heroes. When is a door not a door? ( )

Storyline generally engaging, though not gripping. A moderately funny read. Looking at other reviews, I agree that I should have read [b:Doughnut|15790906|Doughnut|Tom Holt|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1361315869s/15790906.jpg|21512463] first. Perhaps I can still figure out what happened in the ending of this novel if I do so later.

Minor: The problem with plotting that depends on plays on words is that it is dialect-dependent. You need a Brit translator to read this book. Pacing reasonable. Protagonist irritating. Female role flat.

Major: Some interesting philosophizing, but several points where the characters are not properly following through on their premises. Overall, the book came across as oddly skittish about the potential for real omnipotence in a multiverse. At several places the author approaches transcendence but backs off as if hitting a taboo or considering something truly risque.

It's been a while since I read any of Holt's books, but I seem to recall that the trope of a polytheistic cosmology active in today's world is one of his hallmarks. Unfortunately for Holt, this novel got too serious and asked too many hard questions. It also offered enough attempt at serious answers that this reader was tripped up and dropped out of the suspension of disbelief by the failure to take seriously (or even comically) answers on offer in the real world.

It's telling when the story includes a reference or joke about nearly every mythological and religious system ever worshiped or conceived by humanity, yet seemingly takes exquisite care to direct our attention away from a rather significant one. In the end, Holt runs into the same flaw that undermines Neil Gaiman's [b:American Gods|4407|American Gods|Neil Gaiman|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1258417001s/4407.jpg|1970226]. To achieve internal consistency, both need to address the failure of polytheism in the face of monotheism.

In this book, a cramped worldview has produced a novel about a cramped multiverse. Holt invested a lot of effort into conceiving a bigger coffin. I was left feeling that it's not so much a jar as a message in a bottle thrown out bravely and pointlessly into the seas of human consciousness: Hope and meaning wanted; No deities allowed. ( )

Prerequisites: Doughnut, Valhalla.
Also recommended: Faust Among Equals, the J.W. Wells series.

This is a direct sequel to Doughnut that also ties in with Valhalla. J.W. Wells is mentioned in passing, as is Kurt Lundqvist from Faust Among Equals, but the story works fine if you haven't read those books. (For that matter, Valhalla isn't essential, but it plays a more significant role in the plot.)

As for the book itself...well, it's pretty standard Holt fare. If you're read Doughnut, you know exactly what I mean. If not, this will make even less sense to you. It is, after all, a sequel; not knowing what happened in that book will leave you even more confused than If It's a Jar's protagonist, and that's no small feat. ( )

I didn't find the protagonist as appealing as some others, but this continuation of the multiverse theme of _Doughnut_ keeps the reader guessing. Read _Doughnut_ first. ( )