in case you had not noticed, Harschmort is a house of masks and mirrors and lies, of unscrupulous, brutal advantage. We cannot afford illusion - about ourselves least of all, for this is what our enemies exploit most of all. I have seen notorious things, I promise you, and notorious things have been done to me.

A steampunk adventure in which three disparate people (a hired killer, a jilted woman, and a doctor whose job is to keep a dissolute prince out of trouble) come together to investigate a secret cabal. It was rather long and could easily have been edited to a more manageable length. In my opinion the reader doesn't really need to have the same time period covered in tortuous detail not once but three times (from the point of view of each of the protagonists). And just how many times did the baddies leave someone to kill one of the protagonists and assume they were dead, only to have them escape and pop up just as the baddies are gloating over their death? More times than your average James Bond movie, I reckon!

But I still enjoyed it, even though it took me well over a fortnight to slog my way through it.

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

This book will be released at the Nottingham BookCrossing meeting. It will be left on the bookcase in the basement of Costa Coffee if no-one takes it home with them.

Picked up at the Nottingham meet-up.

Taking to the Nottingham meet-up.

Picked up at the last meet I went to and overlooked in my haste to put it on my shelf.

Just to say this book is still with me - I hope to get to it soon!

Sorting through my groaning bookcases, I came across this travelling book having something of a snooze - although it may well have travelled in a house move - or two!

My plan for 2023 is to read as many Bookcrossing books as possible, and to get them moving again for others to enjoy too, so this hopefully will not be the last you hear from this book!