There's some great stuff in here, but some books would be so much better with a strong editor, and this is one of them .

the audio version was entertaining but this is very visual storytelling with a scene by scene series of interconnected plots, characters and locales, so it would make an even more interesting hanna-barbera meets porco rosso meets wizard of oz sort of live action w green screen "who framed roger rabbit" sorta thing, but even then who would do the flying machine special effects? i have no idea !

regardless, there are all the trappings of dime novel fun here to keep you entertained and few wonderful twists and turns to keep you thinking too, so even at two measly stars i'm still encouraging you to give it a try, especially if piscene creatures or the goings-on of automaton enthusiasts are your thing !