Based on the press reviews, I expected this to be more along the lines of Gormenghast or Senlin Ascends, but those comparisons seem superficial. While the book was very engaging - I blitzed right through it in a couple of days - it was not very substantial. There is little character development and the pacing of the plot doesn't leave much room for nuance or even atmosphere to develop: for stretches of the book it feels like a progression from "and then this happened" to "and then this happened". I was particularly struck later on the book at an interlude I assumed would be descriptive ended up being almost entirely expository.