Instruct: Classify Amazon reviews into positive or negative sentiment
Query: Cleverness and little else...

I like Tim Powers' books. I don't like this one too much though. Powers love of the grotesque is in full force here, but what you've really got here is two stories that don't need each other. Post holocaust LA and the mysterious evil thing don't need to be in the same story, and one basically distracts from the other. Also, what's Powers' deal with mutilation? Why ask here? Might as well here as anywhere.