Instruct: Classify an Amazon review into positive or negative sentiment.
Query: Critical Acclaim Misleading!

Even with the vast amount of historical and autobiographical sources Gold consulted for this novel, it is surprisingly flat. At the end of the novel, the reader realizes that Gold has failed to provide any real motivation or personality for his major characters. It's not that it's terrible, it's just neither particularly entertaining nor enlightening. Given the subject matter of magic in the early part of the 20th century, shouldn't Gold have come up with something more interesting and surprising? It almost amazes me how boring this book can be at times. Perhaps the autobiography of the real Charles Carter used by Gold in writing this novel would be a better read.I'm afraid that readers of this novel have been duped by positive press.