I wanted to like it, but like thete1, I didn't even finish it. I find that of works that deal with combining magic with the "real" world, I tend to either feel like they're making the real world more magical, or the magical more mundane, and the latter I rarely enjoy. And I got several hundred pages in and didn't care for any of the characters.

I did like the footnote thing, though; I've enjoyed that kind of thing both in Pratchett and in House of Blue Leaves, which does an even more extreme job. But in both cases, I like the core stories, as well.