The writing is literary, it has all the components of a Robert Jackson Bennett/Lisa Goldstein outing and I hated it. It's ugly, it's violent, its mythology hasn't been carefully enough constructed. And the technical mastery of storytelling, while competent, was filled with in-your-face passages intended to shock and disturb as a primary goal. 
 I can read "The Troupe" and be wowed by its artistry even though I didn't like any of the characters (and years later, I'm still haunted by the story of the Song). This, attempting to be in the same kind of storytelling zone, left me cold and unmoved and a little nauseated by the in-your-face content. 
 The author tries to hard to shock and to little to pull the strands together to create a bigger narrative whole. Didn't work. Really disappointed. Picked up for a June club read. Do not recommend.