I have a fondness for steampunk novels and this is definitely one of the more intriguing andf enjoyable reads in that genre. It centres around the "Great Game" but what makes that palatable is the book's lack of delusions about how that is about anything except power-grabbing by colonial nations. I enjoyed the descriptions that brought cities alive and the characters and the adventure - much like League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. It made me decide to start reading her books from the first one. Serious mixed feelings about this book. The first half was good, but on finishing reading it, I literally threw it across the room shouting "what a piece of shit!"maybe limitations of the steampunk genre?.... Once we've had a couple of hundred pages of Ottoman- Brit politics and a bunch of 20th century gizzmos dressed up in brass cogs and Victorian filigree, there ain't much more to say!OH- and all women are corseted whores!Blah!Baker is SUCH a patchy writer !!
A decent summer's read, but not as intricate and detailed as some of her other books in this series.
—shalom
Decent enough book, but I didn't like it as much as I've liked most of her other novels.
—Divyakant
I'm a fan of Baker's "Company" series but this was a fairly tedious addition.
—kiera
The library wanted it back. I'm sure I'll finish it... some day. Ugh.p.106
—diana_grace
steampunky goodness.
—jhen
