by Max Gladstone

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this eventually, but it started out pretty slowly. Once we get past the first 4 chapters or so things start to flow nicely and we get to really know the characters. I was drawn to the book because of the premise but then it seemed to take so long to get there that I would have given up if not for the fact that I felt it was going to get better. The characters are different and the world they inhabit bares a passing resemblance to our own in many ways, but it’s the differences that make this worth reading.

” The Craft was difficult to master, half art, half science, and an extra half bull-headed determination.”

Tara Abernathy is a young Craftswoman who was not graduated from the Hidden Schools in a traditional manner, but was ejected though she has great ability. Though she has great ability she is untested in real world applications. Kos, the God of Alt Coulumb is dead and Ms. Keverian has chosen to take Tara on as her associate for the negotiations to resurrect him. This is a make or break situation for Tara, she can show that she knows what she is doing and gain a position in a prestigious firm or she can go back to her small town and fade away. The problem is that there is more to the death of this deity than has been revealed and now they have to dig deeper in order to find out what is really going on.

What you have here is a murder mystery within a world of technology, myth, religion, and law. There are Gods, Goddesses, vampires, and any manner of creature.