The finale to his Arabesk trilogy, this is what you expect from Jon Grimwood - cyberpunk-style alternative-history. He also appears to be continuing his retreat from shocking gore. As usual, I enjoyed it.
In a little more detail, it's really a plot to provide a conclusion to the questions posed in the earlier novels. As such, I think the main story works well. There's a murder-mystery subplot, but it felt disjointed from the main action, and doesn't add much. Finally, despite a reasonable set-up, I wasn't satisfied by the resolution at the end. I'm happy with a little bit of thinking, but when it comes to resolving a trilogy's worth of questions, I think it's a little annoying to leave it (apparently unintentionally) ambiguous. Sadly, I can't detail my confusion without writing spoilers.
In summary, I did enjoy it immensely, as I did the series, but in retrospect (you know, actually trying to analyse the thing), I found it unsatisfying.
Posted 2006-03-08.