That said, it was so relentlessly well-written that I feel like my ill-defined issues with it are kind of irrelevant because I highly enjoyed it.

Do you think more was supposed to come through than actually did?

It's almost the reverse—protagonists figuring out genre solutions to literary fiction problems.

Well, I kind of love that.

my favourite cover the year it came out

I was just admiring this cover 10 seconds ago when it was being suggested to me as something I as a (new) reader of Samatar might like.

I find myself turning into a young woman fleeing in a white gown across the moors, holding a candlestick

I will just leave this here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FF0VaBxb27w