Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr

I found this to be a book that I liked more the further I got in it, and there is plenty of book to be had here. This is a big novel of people thinking big thoughts. The story that underlies the action, which occurs over centuries, is a tale that dates back to ancient times. The story is then interwoven with different characters over different times, some good, some not, all of them are complicated in their own ways and products of their times. In time, we learn the outcomes of several of these stories, and how you might conceive them to be interconnected in their own way. It is a seat of your pants action book that unfolds in a decpetively sluggish manner, and exciting to the end. The earliest action takes place in the mid-15th century when Omeir, an ostracized boy with a cleft palate who is my favorite. He is conscripted into the Ottoman army and becomes a reluctant witness to one of history’s most consequential battles. The new sultan is marching on Constantinople with a set of mighty cannons that may allow him to breach the city’s ancient walls. There are other soldiers and other wars, and it is nicely tied up, more or less, in the end.