What an excellent book this was. I just loved everything about it. The prose was glorious, the characters were interesting, the plot was compelling and suspenseful, the sense of place and atmosphere was awesome. I loved how much background detail we got about the character's lives and about the various denizens of Fount Royal. All the back stories didn't feel like filler or derail the main plot. This was a totally epic, immersive reading experience. 
 I highly, highly, highly recommend this book. Good luck putting it down once you start reading it.