At face value, I should really have enjoyed this book much more than I did. The parts all sound great. Wizard lawyers, a dead god, magic and divine favour as commentary on capitalism with just a sprinkle of steampunk on top.

In the execution, though, I just didn't love it. I didn't find the characters especially interesting or intriguing. Some were too obvious - the villain stops just short of actually twirling a moustache as they describe their evil plans - and some were just unremarkable. The twists felt very carefully constructed with lots of signposts along the way.

There's a truly fascinating world as the backdrop for this story but I never felt like I quite got a proper handle on it. The writing seemed to be having an identity crisis and couldn't decide whether this was a gritty urban fantasy whodunnit or a zany fantasy adventure with silly characters along for the ride.

I think there's a lot of potential with the setting and ideas, but this book didn't bring it together in a way that worked for me.

A note on format: I started trying to read this with the audiobook and absolutely could not handle the narrator. There was a huge inconsistency in delivery which, combined with the inconsistent attitude of the story, was absolutely unmanageable for me.