I guess “amibitious” (stealing from the author’s preface) is accurate, but I’d say the comparisons to Umberto Eco are not warranted. A big(ish) tale, including a large cast of (sometimes poorly-differentiated) characters. I didn’t find the prose to be particularly striking, and it had a fairly easy vocabulary.

I was disappointed by the confusion introduced by the large number of characters and constant shifting between them. Also, there were a large number of deus ex machina events, many of which weren’t justified, in my opinion.

I think I was also turned off by the range of the characters’ ranks – we have grunts, ordinary citizens, and all the way up to the Empress’s right hand, and I didn’t feel like the way in which these people interacted was realistic.

In spite of all these complaints, there are some interesting ideas, and the story moved quickly for me, so I’m not totally turned off. I’m told later books are better, so I may return. Still, as far as I’m concerned, it doesn’t deserve its reputation.