Starting in a time in the future, perhaps the end, of the series before plunging backwards through time to the childhood of Pierce Moffet, Love & Sleep starts living up to its name as events are related in a dream-like sequence and super-natural beings come and go depending on whether the characters are awake or not.

Love & Sleep is the Summer Quaternary of the Aegpyt cycle. The wants and desires of the characters are established, and they now actively work towards their goal... even as the threat of Autumn looms just beyond our senses and does not take any discernible form until the end.

Perhaps the most jarring feature of the novel is the first hundred plus pages that deal with a late summer in Pierce's childhood. Those impatient to continue the story in real and imaginary times from The Solitudes may find this portion as a tedious obstruction. It is necessary structurally to embody that magical aspect of Summer where possibilities are limited only by the eventual necessity of choosing. It also fits in with how John Crowley has chosen to reveal meaning in this series, peeling a layer of skin before getting to the pulp beneath.

Once accepted, the other feature of the novel is the presence of background forces that shape where the story is going and where it is coming from. Even in the John Dee passages, some Other is shaping events towards some event that precipitates the Fall of many possible worlds and the emergence of a New Heaven and a New Earth.

Like seasons, this book passes and transitions into what will clearly be the Autumn Quaternary... but as one season/age passes into another one, there is an 'end' featuring a stunning realization by Pierce and an incredible passage involving an angelic messenger. Time marches on, and so must my reading of this series.