A Book of Tongues - Gemma Files This was a bit of a tough one. Wildly inventive, beautifully written... but sometimes a bit hard to follow, and suffering from an acute case of the too-many-awesomes-itis. I mean, I love gunslingers, and magical woo-woo, and Mayan death gods, and corrupted preachers, and historical au's, and gay romance, and apocalyptic westerns as much as the NEXT girl... but maybe there's just a little bit too much going on here for one book? Seriously... I think that the ideas and concepts stuffed into this book could have been comfortably spread over at least 4 different novels. And when you factor in a timeline that flops back and forth willy-nilly, and prose that frequently veers into the purple, you end up with... well, a tension headache, to be honest. I had to stop in the middle and read something light and frivolous, before I could come back and finish it.With all that being said, I DID finish it, and I will most likely go on to read the next book in the series (after a break.) The author has an undeniable gift for inventiveness and originality, and really lovely prose at times. And I just really dig her overall aesthetic. I'm going to keep an eye out for this author in the future, because she has oodles of talent that could be honed to a lovely edge. Just... dialed back a little. Or a lot.