Episodic, but with central characters to carry you through. Has the feel of a book Mitchell had several tries at, and stitched together the tries. Works well for all that. Genre Fantasy climax and post-apocalyptic ending both a bit cheap and the apocalypse very much of its particular moment, but characters here to like and to hate and to hate yourself for liking, intersting scenarios for them to play in. But kind of a mess, truthfully.