Instruct: Classify the given Amazon review as either positive or negative.
Query: Blaylock Commits a Cardinal Sin

Homunculus was a mish-mash of dull characters and obscure references to their work within the plot structure. Homunculus was the second book in a trilogy. Blaylock's cardinal sin was that he did not create a novel in Homunculus that could stand alone. That is, in order to understand the characters' machinations one had to have read the first book in the trilogy. Bad boy! As an example of what can be done, one can read the second book in Stieg Larsson's Millenium Trilogy (The Girl who Played with Fire) without having read book one (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) and enjoy a completely satisfying literary experience. Not quite half way through Homunculus I gave up in disgust and tossed it. I appreciate that James Blaylock and Tim Powers are friends but Powers' cover blurb on Homunculus was such a pack of lies that I'll never again trust a review by him.