JK Rowling's The Casual Vacancy: What the reviews said

Reviews for J K Rowling's The Casual Vacancy have been mixed (PA)

Lev Grossman - Time

"Rich with literary intelligence and entirely bereft of bullshit, and if it weren't for Rowling's stringent security measures it would or at least should have contended for the Booker Prize."

Michiko Kakutani - The New York Times

"The reader can only hope she doesn't try to flesh out the Muggle world of Pagford in any further volumes, but instead moves on to something more compelling and deeply felt in the future."

Jan Moir - The Daily Mail

"At 503 pages, it is overlong, slow to start and bogged down with detail and a confusing rash of characters. But then, who would dare to edit the most successful author in the world?"

'Mandy' - Amazon.co.uk

"What a ridiculous price, was looking forward to reading this book but not at that price. Will buy at Tesco instead. SHAME ON YOU J K ROWLING, we can't all wave a magic cash wand." (NB The book is £9 at both Tesco and Amazon)