This has to be the most original thing I've read in years: imagine Fforde's Thursday Next played totally straight. Dahlquist has created a wonderfully strange alternative England where a sinister plan to take over the world can only be thwarted by three quite unlikely heroes. It seemed to drag a bit about two-thirds of the way through (though it picks up again before the end). 
 I found that I'd posted the above review on ChiliFresh (the only one I'd posted there, quite probably the only one I will ever be posting there). I copied and pasted it over to Goodreads. And then I edited it slightly, because, well, you do.