I'm not sure that I liked this as much as Salt, the first in the series. For one, it seems to have shifted from sci-fi to fantasy. For another, I think that Xantee and Duro aren't as vivid as Pearl and Hari from a character stand-point.

That said, there's still a lot of good things here, and one can see the progression from Under the Mountain, an earlier, unrelated (if thematically similar) book of Gee's. His characteristic cool, clean prose is as refreshing to read as ever, and the underlying grimness of the setting is well-done without being over the top.