But, other than that, I was not impressed. The story itself is VERY predictable. Also, I found the book to be extremely narrow minded, even prejudiced. Every character in the book who is a member of the city’s upper class, or who aspires to be a member of the city’s upper class, is vile, dishonest, corrupt, and thoroughly evil, except for one character who renounced his past, and another who clearly wants to. While every character who is from the middle or lower social classes is pure, and honest, and inherently good. That’s simply not the way people are – anywhere, and is, quite frankly, a bigoted point of view.

I enjoyed reading the book for its setting, and the way the author wove the history and culture into the story, and for those elements, I would recommend it to others who are interested in those things. I will not, however, read it again.