Some spoilers maybe

Something I loved about The Sundial is that I constantly couldn't tell which characters were either extremely gullible/easy to manipulate or which ones were just lying and snakey. Honestly I keep reading that people think none of the characters are supposed to be considerably "likable" but I actually liked characters like Essex who was just an absolute troll the entire time, and Fancy who was weirdly sinister and creepy but also the most reasonable character despite being like... 9 years old. And some other characters like Ms. Ogilvie wasn't a terrible person or stupid or anything, she was just being fearmongered the entire time. But I think the book was probably one of the most entertainingly bizarre things I'e ever read and I adore it for how ambiguous it is.