I picked this up not knowing it was the prequel to a series of books, only that the author had a good reputation. While it was interesting to follow the stories through time, I wasn't really a fan of this. There was no cohesion other than the wooden boxes. It took me a while to catch the drift of it but I found the random jumps rather annoying. No "he cherished the box and it made 34 more trips back to Mexico City before being passed to his son with whom it made 49 trips back and forth across the desert before falling forgotten as Carlos fell asleep for the last time." Just something so you know how much time has passed. Instead it randomly jumped forward anywhere between a few years and a few centuries.
I guess this is an important book if you're a fan of the series, but I am not, so it was mostly meh for me. Based on the writing style, I don't think I'll be picking up the series either. I'd rather move onto something I really like, and this ain't it!
