Shadow & Claw

I just finished the first book in this omnibus edition. So far it's mostly nonsensical. Nothing at all happens for the first third. Then it becomes a sort of picaresque, in which the protagonist wanders around and meets a bunch of characters, and for every one he thinks, “I felt that we had met somewhere before.” I get the sense that everything is intended to be a clue as to something else, but I have no idea what I'm supposed to be figuring out. And it's kind of painful to be subjected to (very important and portentous, I'm sure) dream sequences in a narrative that's already so surreal.

Anyway, I'm going to soldier on and tackle the second book, hoping that things become more clear.