Last Exit by Max Gladstone

 

This is a fantasy novel that has, that I can see, bits of stuff like Zelazny's Amber books and King and Straub's The Talisman (and of course King's Dark Tower) in it. Multiple worlds that share what one might call architecture, or landmarks, all of them under some sort of threat. Apparently. At least, the nature of the threat is not what it seems--which is fundamentally fine, it allows a happier ending than seems possible for most of the novel's length, without seeming cheap or as though the author is wimping out or something. There are elements of Horror (unsurprising, really) and some interesting textual and subtextual commentary on society and tech--the latter, refreshingly, not in a "magic-versus-tech" way--and the implication that the main characters find the other worlds they find is because their imaginations are so limited is ... interesting. There are also hat-tips and allusions (and probably Easter eggs) to other Fantasy, much of which I probably didn't entirely get. Probably the best novel I've read in a while, huzzah.