While there were a lot of elements I liked and Harkness’ atmospheric prose drew me in and kept me reading, I think this story could have benefited from being more concise (or at least much more tied together).

This could have been a great book (in my opinion), but overall it was. just. so. slow.

Now, I did really enjoy many of the slow parts, but since it’s difficult to understand what is going on in the first half (an argument could even be made for two-thirds), the glorious potential this book hinted at was lost. At nearly 600 pages, I wish Harkness had included more subplots that resolved themselves throughout the book. That way I would at least feel something happened during the first half of the book. I know Harkness has set up for many incredible things to happen in the future books, but I have no desire to continue on with this series and that makes me sad.