Stars: 4 out of 5
This is the first fantasy book that I have read by this prolific author. I liked one of his sci-fi series (The Final Architecture) and bounced off another one (Children of Time). So I was open to giving another one of his books a go.
All in all, I really liked it. The author has a knack for creating interesting worlds that you want to explore and learn more about. In our case, the city of Ilmar is interesting to discover, but not a place I will ever want to visit. It’s old and crumbling in some places, with layers of history and tragedy built upon each other.
It’s a weird place where grand mansions coexist with factories straight out of the industrial revolution (only powered by demons instead of coal). Where a mysterious Wood can be a small corpse of trees one moment, and a passage to other worlds when the moon hits it just right. Where a curse can jump from the person being executed to the executioner. Where the old nobility, massacred a hundred years ago, still snares anyone who enters their domain to re-enact their jousts and dances until they die of starvation.
You could almost (but only almost) pity the Pals who are trying to impose their order and Correct Thought doctrine on this city that rejects any kind of order or classification. It’s a broken place where magic leaks from the cracks, and hope is a small ray of sunshine almost swallowed by the clouds of despair. Even the escape through the Wood isn’t easy and is a guaranteed death sentence without proper protection.
While I was fascinated by Ilmar, I was less enthused with the characters that we got to follow throughout the book. There are several POVs, so the story meanders seemingly aimlessly for a good chunk of the book. I would even argue that some of the POVs were rather superfluous and could have been cut out without much damage to the story, which would have made the book slightly shorter and easier to read.
Don’t look for heroes in this book. There are none, even if some of the characters consider themselves as such, at least in the beginning, before the harsh reality of Ilmar slaps them in the face. These are deeply flawed people who are doing sometimes horrible things, and sometimes good things, but purely for selfish reasons. Everyone likes to talk big about liberating Ilmar and chasing the Pals out, but it’s always about who will profit from that revolution.
So if you like your protagonists clearly on the side of good and your villains truly evil, then this is probably not a book for you. These characters are flawed people. Sometimes pitiful, sometimes horrible, but always very human.
My only complaint is that this world feels rather hopeless. Horrible things happen, then even more horrible things follow. There is no happy ending, just an ending to this particular nastiness. Some antagonists get what they deserve, but most don’t. Also, Ilmar is back to the status quo with nothing gained on either side.
All in all, I don’t mind revisiting this world again, so I will definitely pick up the next book in the series.
PS: I received an advanced copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.