Some Notes on The Worm Ouroboros

Spoilers!
I have the impression this is one of those influential books that people know about but don't actually read. So I read it. It's hot stuff.
Some fantasy stories try to emulate logic-free fairy tales while others depict worlds unlike our own with a rationalesque style as if they were histories or biographies. This is the sort of story which gestures at the first style while standing on the second. Names like Demonland and Brandoch Daha prepare readers for the strange curses and ancient mores which do indeed follow, but at the same time the politics and generalship that drive the plot are earthly and reasonable. Much like the discussion of elven trade routes in The Hobbit that leads to the wine barrel escape, The Worm Ouroboros turns the mundane matter into adventure and uses the fantastical as decoration rather than as the foundation.
This book sure loves messenger speeches.
The only thing that contributes more to creating the fantasy world of this story than the dialogue is the letters. Every single one of those is great.
It ended weakly. The Ouroboros imagery was tied to Witchland, and associating it with Demonland or all Mercury at the end is unsatisfying. Some sort of return to the framing story might have helped as well.