Well, entertainament weekly is blah IMHO, and Amazon 5 stars are pretty pointless (we can go through the worst authors on earth and see an average of 4-5 start - ie Brooks) and if anything would back-up the popular appeal most people forecast. I read the publisher weekly blurb (can't tell if it was a starred review or not) and it's positive but not lavish. Kirkus would be interesting to see, as depending on who gives the Kirkus review I find them to be pretty honest.All I know is that Entertainment Weekly gave it an A, my local newspaper (the Kansas City Star) gave it a top-notch review, I believe Publishers Weekly and Kirkus did likewise, and there are nothing but 5-stars from the amazon folks. That was enough to make me think it was something out of the ordinary, particularly when it's being promoted with monthly installments and beautiful matching covers.
I guess critically lauded is a bit about perception - generally when I ponder reliable/noteworthy critics I think of a small group of people that include John Clute, Gary K. Wolfe, Gabe Chouinard, Paul di Fillipo, Niall Harrison, Matthew Cheney, Paul Witcover, Nick Gevers among a few others, however certainly who each of us deems reputable sources is certainly subjective.
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