Very reminiscent of Guy Gavriel Kay, in a good way: heavy on the politics and people within a slightly fantasy world.

I will caution that early in the novel there is some pretty unpleasant sexual violence. Not for the squeamish, and not a pleasant happy read.

My other complaint is that it was downright humiliating to read this on the bus because it looked like borderline fantasy smut if you only saw the cover! ( )

I keep wanting to compare this book to others I've read recently: it has the same "grime of the sprawling city" feel to it that The Lies of Lock Lamora has, but it has the same approach to upsetting the reader's expectations that Blood and Iron has, and it feels a bit like Tad Williams lent a hand. The parts all work together, and the resulting book is pretty impressive. I'm looking forward to the sequel. ( )

This book hooked me in four pages. The reason is two-fold:
1. Mildmay's very distinctive character voice, and
2. Felix's life explodes in his face on pages 5-8.

Sarah Monette teaches us that there is no need to spend the time setting up a wall that you're just going to knock down as soon as possible. She relies on the reader to know the wall is there in a few concise clues - thus trusting our intelligence - and gives us what we're there to see. The downfall of the status quo happens quickly and brutally, and one of the characters spends the rest of the book paying the price.

The book has a strange duality in my mind - Felix's actions (and the actions of others with regard to him) drive the plot, but it is Mildmay who is the window by which we see this world. Oh, one can certainly argue that Felix gives us a perspective on how the upper crust lives while Mildmay is out in the trenches, and that is in some sense true. But we all know how the upper crust lives - we've read those books time and time again. It is Mildmay who shows us Mélusine proper - from her walls to the Arcane, from the Sim and the cade-skiffs to the Boneprince. He is the voice of reason and knowledge, and his is the perspective that we are forced to rely on for the real story.

The one thing that surprised me was how long Felix & Mildmay went before meeting. And I was indescribably pleased to see how the author did not dance around the point of their meeting - she brought them together, demonstrated the Plot Point, and moved on to the characters and overarching story.

You can pretty well tell that Monette is out to tell a long story. She sets up some fabulous things in this book, and she's not shy about it, either. The world-building is, of course, most necessary, but then there's her homage to Moria will crop up again, as will the rival magical schools, as will, I hope, some of the problems Mildmay encounters early on in the story.

But what this story really runs on is the bonds she forges between her protagonists as soon as they meet. I was a bit puzzled, at first, to note how close Mildmay would stick to this flash hocus he picked up without quite intending to, but it completely fits with the sheer charisma Felix has. Likewise, Mildmay exerts his own magnetic pull, no matter what he thinks on the matter.

The Roman and Greek nomenclature, the calendrical systems (a full explanation of which can be found on the website), and, oh I think I love her so very much for the Morskaiakrov! It's not just the vessel, but the description of her crew that gets me.

Did not finish this book. Turned off by the yucky homosexual rape scenes and unlikeable characters. Still looking for good fantasy novels like George RR Martin's. ( )

Plot/Themes- 4.5/5
My main attraction to this series is the theme of brothers and them working together and stuff, so it felt to me that it took a bit too long for them to finally meet. And then when they do meet, Felix is all semi-there and not-himself, so I don't really even know how Mildmay develops any form of relationship to Felix's pseudo-self. He tries so hard to protect him though, it's kind of heartbreaking when Felix doesn't/can't respond.
The world building is quite detailed and creative, though I'm a little dubious of the supposed language consistencies and the good city vs. evil city thing.
Overall, I loved the brothers' story arc and the fantastic world-building, but felt it was a bit ambiguous in relationship semantics.

Characters - 4/5
The vulnerable!Felix is a bit too dependent/fragile, his entire character is based around running away from problems and lying and boatloads of degenerative self-pity, and he just seems a really worthless person being used and letting people use him. Felix' POVs were especially confusing, separating into various stages of coherency and cowardice that don't seem linked to any "personality", that I wonder if you can really call him a single character or multiple-personality disorder (or maybe his character growth was just that radical). Even towards the end, he's a bit of a drama queen, but he's redeemed myself for Mildmay so I don't dislike him as much.
I love Mildmay more than Felix (understatement), and thoroughly enjoyed his half of the narration. He's crude but kind and straightforward, and very snarky in his own head, even to himself. I liked his character arc of going through caring for Felix' issues and questioning himself and his methods. Also the distinct sense that Felix is probably the last person he connects to and his desperation to hold onto that last responsibility ♥
I liked the side characters too (though not most of the Mirador court), von Heber and Bernard were charming, and I liked Gideon's ambiguous motives, but the Sunlings seemed to have very little personality out of plot-device and deux ex machina...
Overall, the characters are all very unique, there are a wide spectrum from flats/dumbs to intelligent to rich to poor who are all given fair exploration as individuals.

Writing - 3/5
The flow is a bit jumpy here and there, especially with MildMay's very very bad grammar narration (I wouldn't have minded if it was just slang, but this is a bit far), and there were many over-used metaphor adjectives. The author also clearly went through the trouble to invent new names for stuff (ex. Months, number counters, occupations), but then reverted to using modern English slang in other areas of the book. There were also inconsistencies in quality, where some parts had wonderful plot points/events, while others were kinda rushed over (esp. when the brothers first meet, that was such a half-assed scene...or maybe she was trying too hard to give the Meet Scene a low-profile approach?)
Overall, it is readable if a bit frustratingly dull in places, or inconsistent. ( )