I really wanted to like this book. I admire Crowley as a writer, and “Little, Big” remains one of my favorite novels. Depsite this, “Love and Sleep” is a tough read.

The book continues the story started in Ægypt, and follows the same group of characters exploring pretty much the same questions that framed the first book. The book moves back and forth through two parallel stories, centering on the writer and historian Pierce Moffett in the present day, and on the mage John Dee and metaphysician and philosopher Giordano Bruno in the 16th century. The language remains beautiful, but this is much more of a character-driven book than a plot-driven one, and I found some interludes (particularly those from Moffett’s childhood) painful and difficult to wade through. I think Crowley is at his best when he’s not being autobiographical.

The novel is somewhat long (512 pages), and while the end brings many threads together in somewhat satisfying and lyrical ways, the payoff isn’t really there.