I enjoyed the story presented in this book, and would definitely recommend it to anyone who likes detailed world settings, and is happy to keep track of lots of characters, so long as you are able to overlook a few flaws.
The book has a couple of issues, mostly in terms of editting, however any reader aware of this before they start and happy to overlook it should find an interesting story with some compelling character development over the entire tale and plot twists in the latter half of the book.
The second half of the novel really shows the author hitting his stride, and I particularly liked the differences in the characters that populate the setting, plus the feeling of depth, even on those occassions when things shifted gears a little unnaturally.
The book is a first novel, and feels like it, but I dont feel this is of any disservice in and of itself, it is simply a fact. Clearly, the author has a world well built in his head, and the ground work to write many and more stories in its divergent locales and cultures, and I would be eager to pick up a sequel if and when one is available.
For the price, I feel this a good novel worth a read, especially for lovers of complex settings.
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