I originally read this when it first came out. I enjoyed it at the time, enough to buy and read the sequel, which I liked slightly less. The sequel ended with a cliffhanger, but I wasn’t able to find a third book until recently, and since it’s been so long I decided to reread this.

When I first read this book it came in two parts, in two different paperbacks, for no apparent reason as other reviewers have noted. This time around I decided to go with an abridged audiobook version, partly because I remembered the story being very long and dense and partly because Alfred Molina was narrating (I like Alfred Molina; he seems nice).

Even abridged, this was something of a slog. There’s so much plot and so many names and I’m honestly not one for much steampunk. Also, there’s a level of casual racism that is fitting for the period until you realize the period isn’t real, this is set in a fantasy steampunk world, and it’s weird that a character is named Chang because he has scars slanting across his eyes that look like a “caricature of a chinaman”, and weird that another main character is positively described as being capable of violent self defense because she grew up watching slaves being whipped on her daddy’s island. I get it’s a kind of pseudo-Victorian setting, but also, it’s a choice, and while it wasn’t a deal breaker it was initially very distracting to keep reading about Cardinal Chang who is actually a scarred white dude and this is some weird fake-old-timey racism.

That said, Cardinal Chang was probably my favorite character both times I read this, at least of the three hero characters. (Contessa Lacquer-Sforza was my favorite character overall, because you can’t beat an unhinged sexy baddie.) Apart from Cardinal Chang, the character names are a highlight of this book. Examples: Doctor Abelard Svenson, Prince Karl-Horst von Maasmärk of Macklenburg, the Comte d’Orkancz, Francis Xonk, Celeste Temple. Imagine, all these names and more read for you by Alfred Molina. It was a lot to keep track of, and I didn’t, because I had Covid and was weaving in and out of brain fog / half sleep for a lot of it. But I got enough of it to mostly understand and enjoy the ending and to be able to understand the sequels if I choose to keep going, and I enjoyed the fight scenes and repeated dramatic showdowns with cabal members, and the cool glass tech. Tbh I think keeping track of all the intrigue and cabal members might be impossible, even healthy, and fight scenes and glass tech are what this book is mostly about. I’ll let it keep the four stars I thought it deserved the first time, but I would say closer to three now. I’m on the fence about continuing to the next book; part of me thinks I better jump in now before I forget details, and part of me needs a break, and part of me sees that the next audiobook isn’t narrated by Alfred Molina and just wants to give up.