Sublime

Ambitious in the mildest version of the word.

moonlight on the pale sand;

There was something cold and calculating and watchful in his eyes, something needlessly reckless and yet desperately cautious. Stoner became aware that he was in the presence of a bluff so colossal and bold that he had no ready means of dealing with it.

where most of the locals looked disturbingly alike.

a Coming of Age story, or Bildungsroman, or maybe a Rags to Riches story—but