Anatopsis -- Chris Abouzeid

I really didn't think I was going to make it through.  Here's a sample of the notes I made while reading:

• Seems like it's shooting for the Diana Wynne Jones fantasy satire, but turned out like sub-par Pratchett.
• Too wink-wink nudge-nudge for me.  Amalgamated Witchcraft, how droll; the Bacchanalian exams, how clever.
• Character-wise, I'm tired of the princess-tomboy type.  It just makes me want to re-read the Patricia Wrede books -- they're funny without trying too hard, and I have a real affection for the characters.
• Following the recent trend of evil doer/ineffectual parent as Big Business.
• Glaring environmental message, as well as class/race.

Then I hit page 40(ish) and I started to really enjoy it.  Anatopsis' terrifying new tutor shows up and the story gets much weirder and much scarier.  It feels less and less like an amalgamation of DWJ, Harry Potter, Tale of Desperaux and every book with a plucky-princess-who-doesn't-want-to-act-like-a-princess and more like something very original.

Mostly.

It's a sci-fi/fantasy mix, which I think is a hard combo to get completely right.  At least, personally, I rarely end up loving them.  (Rarely?  Have I ever loved one?  Can't stand the Duane books, hated Artemis Fowl with a burning-seething-undying, er, hatred, liked Faerie Wars pretty well...)

It's set on Earth -- or a version of it -- in the future.  The environment has been mostly destroyed by the magic users -- Immortals -- who live on an island that is magically protected from the smog and toxins and sludge.  The mortals who aren't lucky enough to serve the Immortals live without protection.  ("Lucky" is relative.  When Immortals get angry, they're liable to start tossing curses.  Curses are irreversible unless the same Immortal that casts it decides to lift it -- which they never do.)

Anatopsis has:  an extremely interesting magic system, characters that I ended up developing affection for -- I especially liked Ana's father, a very scary bad guy, people getting torn in half, some very imaginative curses, a cranky talking dog, a mortal servant girl with the heart of a knight, inter-planetary travel, and a visit to Mount Olympus.  That's just a fraction. 

I suspect that the more I try to explain, the more confusing and complicated it will get.  So:  if you slog through the first forty annoying pages, the rest of the book is worth it.