4.5. I think it could have played out better with about 50 pages more, considering the intricacy of the plot. As it is, the last 2 chapters were a bit cumbersome, but other than that? Damn near perfect. I wish more male authors would take a page from Gladstone's book and figure out that your word processor of choice won't implode if you try to populate your novel with compelling female characters (and maybe even, gasp, a PoC heroine!), each with their own plausible agency.Secondly! I got such a kick out of the world-building. It must have been just as fun to write as it was to read, and lends a fabulous twist to both urban and high fantasy. I think Alt Coulumb is as fair an extrapolation of your standard gods-and-mages faux-medieval city evolved into the 21st century as you can get. And it actually makes sense on the micro scale! Handwavey magic-based technology is one of my fantasy pet peeves, so things like the theory behind the city's heating system made me very happy indeed. So did the magic itself: half necromancy and half contract law, it both gave old ideas a new perspective and set the scene for the most awfully geeky legal joke I ever expected to encounter in fantasy fiction. I APPRECIATE YOU, MAX GLADSTONE.(Also, sentient gargoyles. Just saying.)