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Overall a good read. It's not going to break records and become a best seller, but as with the other book I read by D. Moonfire, this serves as an interesting introduction into the world that he has constructed. (It's a world that is on the precipice of two eras, to which there is a lot of complications as some people gravitate to the new ideas, while others are firmly rooted in the older ways.)

Things that work in this book: some of the major societal issues aren't resolved by the end. In fact one of them hits the main character in the face, even after the resolution of the plot. Some of the plot points that would have been too convenient don't work. Not all of the plot points are wrapped up at the end - they are things that I believe will become major points in the follow up novels (there are two more in this series at this point). The main characters go through a definite development arc - they aren't two dimensional cardboard cut-outs.

There are some problems with this book. For example, there is a question of how a character gets a tool near the end of the novel -- a tool we clearly know was previously used in a different situation, and couldn't be recovered. There are some questions about he timeline -- like some characters stating that it has been "days" since something happened, when it's really been at least two weeks, and probably more like three weeks.

There is also a whole portion of the plot that is dropped -- appropriately as it isn't necessary -- but it doesn't get mentioned again at all. (A hint, there is this trip at the start of this story, and several characters end up splitting off from the group - but we don't know what happened to the rest of the group.)

I think this makes the point: it's a good story. Better told than a lot of similar stories -- but there were still some flaws that could have been resolved.