A little slow in parts, where Beard isn't being cheated on, stealing, or killing maybe, and a couple of nice side stories. He bumbles along, trying to do nothing, and bad stuff happens a lot. Through it all life isn't so bad for him, he eats and eats and lazes about, and does very little.
I really wished he would have had one particular success - the novel feels a bit incomplete as is.
Ah well. An entertaining read.