Well written. An interesting weaving of history and fantasy. This is not a type of book I read often, and I probably wouldn't have chosen to read it now (I'm busy, it's a long read) if I had known more about it. It's very spare on female characters, which would be my one big criticism, but the one female voice in the book is fascinating, and hopefully we'll hear MUCH more from her in the next book.

I did appreciate that this book gave me a new lens into the world of the French Revolution. I don't read much history and rarely absorb what I do read, but adding a magical element to it made it come alive in a new way for me.

It is rather a dense style, told mostly through conversations and narrative. It starts in a kind of light-hearted way that felt a bit like Dickens, but then it slowly turns creepier. I also wasn't sure how I felt about the topic of slavery being used as a device for this kind of story, but I think overall it does lend insight and education to real-life events. I know much, much more about the French Revolution, the slave trade in the late 1700s, and the political life of Britain--and how every generation has its own political idiots and mess to deal with.