Starts good, gets better, touches greatness.

I saw this book mentioned in a Grimdark literature forum and thought I'd give it a go. Ever the optimist, I expected it to be pretty good, but not nearly as good as it turned out to be.

A lot of this genre is in love with its atmosphere and worldbuilding at the expense of plot and character. Not so here. Don't get me wrong; the worldbuilding is intriguing, thorough, believable and features some brilliant unique ideas. The plot and characters, however, are next level here. I am totally in love with Miranda (naturally), and throughout the author has that knack of writing 'in character' so that we see the world how the character would, we care about the things they'd care about, notice what they'd notice. Each plotline has a goal worth attaining, has some stakes and sense of risk, and there is plenty of properly-rationed mystery and genuine shocks.

For me, the writing style and general tone sets the book even higher above the usual fare. There are some masterful descriptions, and the sentences are elegant; there are features that remind me of Mervyn Peake, if he could write an engaging plot as well as a breathtaking paragraph. The research details (the workings of a mill, for example) and word choices totally serve the feel of the book and its world, and the complementary genre elements—a bit of fantasy, a bit of steampunk, a bit of classic mystery—are woven together with deft mastery.

Any criticisms I have are from a desire for more; I wanted Miranda's trajectory to be more drawn out, and reveal more of the workings of the Convergence. It's a testament to the depth and intricacy of the world-building that I felt there were some missed opportunities that could have been taken without my losing interest in the plot. To be fair, though, it might have interfered with the timelines of the various plots, which were able to join up satisfyingly because of a bit of abbreviation. It's rare I'd ask for 'more padding', but this is an instance where I could have listened to at least another four hours of Convergence business. Some might want more action, but in this case I think they'd be wrong, and I appreciate how each action scene has its own feel and new features, so that there's none of that 'here we go again...' feeling that makes me want to skip pages in some other books.

The conception of magic is one of the best features for me. Too often it's treated in Fantasy like something to be mastered like any worldy pursuit; like science, particularly. The whole point of Steiner's magic is that it is otherworldly—even 'interwordly', as shown in one absolutely golden episode—and harnessing it is not a comfortable matter of 'working really hard' or 'having talent'.

The narrator was good, with crisp delivery, a compelling cadence that took notice of rises and falls in the tempo of the plot, and a warm, pleasant voice. Good expression with character dialogue, which added to the immersion. Impressive accent work, although one, though technically pretty much there, wasn't at the level where characterisation could be as subtle as managed with other voices. SFX not to my taste, but sparingly used and so not an issue.

I'm eager for the next books in the series, and would be happy if the same narrator read it. The audio medium definitely adds something over text.

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