This was a great book. Very fast paced with some very interesting characters and story lines. It did suffer from a few first novel issues but they were small and didn't bother me that much.

I liked that the book ended with the completion of a story line and the hint of the future mystery. I have always felt that series books should do that. I hate feeling like I go to the end of the book with no resolution what so ever.

I also thought Scholes did a very nice job of laying out his world. Giving us hints here are there but not revealing everything. There is a big mystery in the background of this book and he hints at it all the way through. I liked his mix of fantasy and tech. Will read the next one when it come out in October. ( )

What was it that kept me reading this book, even as it kept grating on my nerves and frustrating my brain's attempt to analyze it? A big attractor was the cast of clear-cut and appealing characters, each of whom were of a type, but only a couple were a stereotype. Another was the interesting world, which is something like medieval times, but not quite, and included some intriguing modern touches and hints that there is (or could be) a rich history. This made the fantasy a bit more like science fiction. Probably most of all is the unfolding story, with layer upon layer of intrigue.

Truth-be-told, it was this very intrigue that almost made me put the book down about a quarter of the way into it. Outside of the original catastrophe, about which only a little is learned, the only thing that happens for quite a while is a lot of talking and posturing and thinking and a little intrigue. Thankfully, the pace picked up and things got interesting again.

But what did grate on my nerves? Let's start with some of the writing quirks. How about the use of "magicks"? Really? We couldn't come up with a new word or a different word for something that acts like magic, but isn't? I guess if you spell magic with a 'k' it's not exactly the same. And why is it necessary to use apostrophes in names (e.g., "P'Andro Whym" to make them seem exotic? Maybe that's just a matter of personal taste. And why disturb my mind by giving someone a name that appears to my eye to be Asian and have them described as a red-haired, blue-eyed, Caucasian?

Then there's the matter of repetition, of "magicks" and "Whymer Mazes" and "scouts" and "salted knives". If this is really a complex world with thousands of years of history, there should be many more varied analogies and turns of phrase. As it is, it reads like a whole city talking about nothing but Rubik's Cubes and Quantum Leaps all day for years.

And that brings me to the whole perception of a worldwide (?) society that seems completely stuck in a single age, technologically and otherwise, for thousands(?!) of years. Is that because of the workings of a religious order that's clearly Catholic-inspired, but isn't actually based on anything spiritual or truly Biblical (with a capital 'B')? How does that work? Why isn't there more than one (or maybe two, if you count the Marshers) pseudo-religion in the entire world? Even the real Catholic church couldn't pull off more than a few hundred years of domination. And if you've got mechanoservitors and iron ships that are steam powered (the latter implied by the former), where is the industrialization that created them?

What was it that kept me reading this book? I'm still not entirely sure. But I've developed enough interest in the characters and the world to want to know more about what happened in the past and what's going to happen. I may also be hoping that the author has foreseen my objections and will reveal a satisfactory explanation. I'm probably going to read at least the next book in the series to see where it goes. ( )

I started this one on audio and finished it in regular book form. The four readers were good, but I think I would rather have had just one. There were more than four characters for them to cover, and they presented some of the characters differently, especially Isaak.

The chapters are set up as point-of-view chapters like George RR Martin's books, but they're much shorter. We get the viewpoints of most of the major players, whether good, bad or in between. There are some great protagonists here-Rudolfo, the gypsy king; Jin Li Tam, the spy; Petronus, the fisherman with a secret past; and Neb, the young man with a mysterious destiny.

The character that had my heart from the first was Isaak, the mecho-servitor. From that first scene when they find him weeping in the woods to the limp he walks with due to a damaged leg, Scholes does a wonderful job of humanizing the inhuman. I felt instant empathy and protectiveness for the character, the only principal character who doesn't get point-of-view chapters.

The world-building is as smooth as anything-no info dumps in the form of unrealistic dialogue or long paragraphs of exposition. Scholes told his story while gracefully weaving in the history, customs and religion of his unique world. One of the things I love most about the plot is the focus on restoring the library of a great city that has been destroyed.

This work is original and skillfully done, and I'm glad there's more to read. ( )

Honestly, this book has some really glaring problems with characterization, especially in the beginning. The good guys are very good, the bad guys very bad, with very little evident complexity of characterization. I was especially frustrated with Rudolfo/Jin's incredibly perfect courtship/betrothal. But things really do pick up near the end in several ways. You basically have to swallow the idea that a vast conspiracy spanning at least centuries has been working absolutely perfectly to manipulate individual persons on a minute scale, but I definitely lost interest 2/3 of the way through, and then at the end wanted to start the second book immediately.

It's worth noting, by the way, that this book is a pretty massive Bechdel fail--I can think of two named female characters--Jin and Winters--and they never have a conversation that I'm aware of. Jin is also kind of eye-rollingly gorgeous perfect courtesan/spy/Action Girl who immediately fawns completely over Rudolfo. She starts to get some conflict near the end, but definitely not a new character type. Winters is a little more interesting, but doesn't have much to do yet.

Despite the above, mostly compelling, interesting worldbuilding, and I really do want to see where things go. ( )

Really liked this book!
Great alternative world, nice mix of science fiction and fantasy, good dialogue.
Looking forward to the rest of the series ( )