I assumed the present and past was because the book started in median res, then jumped around, but yeah, there were times when that didn't hold.

I was already quite the Franklin nerd before picking it up, and I was quite dubious about the whole supernatural element, but ended up really enjoying it because of slow burn build up.

Overall I loved it... except for the disturbing age gap between Crozier and You Know Who (actually, both of the love interests) and the general exoticism/fetishization of Indigenous women, which I gather is intended to be "historically accurate" attitude from British/Irish male POVs but still comes off damn tacky.

Barring the inaccurate Tuunbaq design, the AMC series improves on the book in every respect... and yet somehow manages to make the ending more depressing, which... damn, kudos for that. Most shows haven't the guts for that kind of bleakness. The show''s "sequel in name only" second season certainly didn't.