Don't let my two stars detain you. This was simply not for me. Others seem to have enjoyed it. I'm told it's a funny book, but I did not find it so, and since it was unlike to pay off in other respects (a thrilling page-turner, a deeply-moving character study, etc.) I stopped reading.

What especially turned me off, though, was the sheer illogicality of it. In a fantasy, one has to be Very Logical (somewhat paradoxically) or you lose readers like me, in droves. If the world into which Ian was re-born believed former lives were a delusion, then why refer to the delusion as "memory?" At one point the matron suggests that his belief in a prior body is silly since where did his new body come from then? (I would suggest, like all bodies, from the river that purportedly creates them for the first time).

And who cares what one's belief about prior-to-the-river is? It makes no difference now. In our world, whether you think your soul is new, or re-incarnated, or isn't a thing and doesn't exist, we don't lock you up one way or the other, and it makes little difference to living our lives.

So, that irked. And if I'm irked, and not laughing at supposedly humorous books, I stop. I got more giggles out of Jane Austen's Sanditon. (And that's not a dig--it's hilarious--and Beforelife wasn't).

(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s). I feel a lot of readers automatically render any book they enjoy 5, but I grade on a curve! ( )

I love the premise, and I love the snark. Some truly clever turns of phrase are littered throughout the book. However, sometimes there was too much snark, even for me (and I’m full of snark myself). It’s a bit on the nose to have a sidekick in a book who is a mental patient for believing he is a character in a book. Also, this book is long. It’s fun, but it is long. ( )