Fascinating whirlwind of a future Istanbul, the oh so famed Constantinople thrown into a world of swarmbots, gray ooze of nanotechnology terror threats, and AI assisted economic hijinks. 
 The one thing I love most about Mr. Mcdonald's books are the levels of depth and exploration of the world he has created. I place the tech ideas and the wonderfully odd legends like the man of honey on a second tier of coolness, followed by wonderfully non-traditional heroes and anti-heroes that wouldn't normally spark much interest except on a humanist level. 
 I wouldn't call it so much as a complaint as a mild irritant, but all of these separate stories seemed to be converging in a way a bit beyond the titular building where they all lived, and there were a few minor crossovers, but honestly, I was hoping and expecting a slightly more grand blow up that included everyone a bit more directly. Sure, everyone was at least indirectly involved, but save for our boy detective, few had active rolls in the final serious conflict. 
 Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed each of their stories and rooted for them all in their turns, but it all came together to make the story mostly about showing us Istanbul in a tech future, not the grandiose changes that came about by the protagonists in it. Again, that's not very fair, either, because the heist portion of the novel was rather cool and the terrorist actions and the complications surrounding a forced religious breakthrough through nanotech was also kickass. Perhaps I just wanted more payoff for an ending. The buildup and characters and worldbuilding really rocked, tho. :) 
 I'll easily keep reading his works. They make me think, and I can't call this a fluff piece by any stretch. I'm going to say this piece is a serious work of sci-fi. Speculative fiction at it's best. Not easy reading, but so very well developed that it takes on a life of its own.