This is a good romp, carried through at a manic pace, almost stem-punk in style. There are ca lot of characters, and a lot of intertwining sub-plots, but all the various threads come together well enough at the end. There's plenty of dry humour scattered throughout the pages, too.
   I noticed a few comma splices in the early pages, which mildly annoyed me. The copy-editor should have picked them up. But apart from that I thought this a 'spiffing good read' and have no hesitation in recommending it to anyone who likes a fantastical story (rather than a fantasy story) to read.