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Similar to others, I found the book got better as the story progressed. I like the conceit of the plot, even though it has now been done many times ("what if you could go back and stop Hitler...") and I though he dealt with the way things developed without Hitler pretty well. He'd clearly carried out quite a bit of research into the early history of Germany and the rise of Nazism.
I also though the plot device used to effect "time travel" was quite clever - sending the pills and birds back, without actually travelling themselves.
One of the biggest plot holes for me was the fact that Leo/Axel had no recollection of his previous life after history had been changed the first time, even though he was within the event horizon with Michael, and yet Stephen (who wasn't) clearly remembered his previous life after the second change to history (when they put the dead rats into the cistern). Didn't make sense to me.
I have vacillated between awarding it 3 stars or 4, and have settled on 3, as it is a bit amateurish in parts (the movie script episodes; the attempts to show us how immature Michael could be, presumably to highlight the fact he was a prodigy and much younger than his achievements would suggest; his over-long lists of "stuff etc. etc.). It's definitely his least-good novel in my opinion, and nowhere near as good as his autobiographical works.
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