I enjoyed this a little more than Morlock Night, but in the end my reaction was much the same.

Very cool ideas in a very juicy setting. But as with Morlock Night, my enjoyment was severely hampered by the incredibly ineffectual protagonist. George Dower is rescued by the same mysterious benefactor not once, not twice, but at least THREE times. And he spends much of the novel being confused while other people explain the plot to him.

Although the details differ (alas, there are no Morlocks in this book) my reading experience here was very similar to that with Morlock Night. (In this novel's defense, I think the plotting here is a little stronger.) And since I'm lazy, and don't feel like writing the same review twice, I'll leave it at that.