I read this for my book club, and we won't be holding our discussion of it until late April, so I might come back after that with more thoughts. For now, I'll say there were aspects of this book which I really enjoyed (the focus on the damage caused by colonization, the diverse cast, the unique magic system, the Oxford setting) but also multiple ways it felt bogged down by it's own length and some of the plot decisions. I'm normally a huge fan of a quirky or educational footnote (see: Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell) but in the second half I felt like the footnotes were bleeding the tension out of the action and really taking away from my reading enjoyment. I wanted more from several of the lead characters emotional arcs. I wanted the plot turns of the second half to come sooner. I wanted some of the multiple main character deaths to be given a bit more space to breath. Still, I'm glad I read this and I think it's a very thought provoking book, maybe more so because it's so far from perfect.