This is four linked novellas (maybe some of them are novelettes) rather than a true novel. It’s written in the first person, with the first tale starting with a first person narrative letter read by the viewpoint character. One of the novellas features another of the main characters as the storyteller. The premise is that the legends of Nepal and Tibet (the Yeti, Shamballa, tunnels, reincarnated lamas) are true. It’s one of the best pieces of humorous fantasy I’ve ever read and all the more wonderful because it’s from an author who is so straight in most of the rest of his work (which is also brilliant but in a completely different way). Much as I like Robinson’s other stuff, I wish he’d occasionally write something along these lines again because he does it so well. Humour is hard but this is up there with Walter Jon Williams (Drake Maijstral) and Terry Practhett in my list of laugh out loud books. If you need a laugh, I heartily recommend it. The encounter between a mythical creature and a former US president is wonderfully told and Robinson’s descriptive powers make the movie in my head so crystal clear that I’m smiling as I remember the images now to write this.

Pure brilliance, that’s weathered the years with no diminution. Read it and weep with laughter!