Uuuuuuuugh I swear it should be mandatory to say that a book is the first of a series on the back of the book! [Aaaand I just looked it up and it's the first in a series of SEVEN. Just a casual mention of that on the back, that's all I'm asking.] 
 Apart from my immense annoyance at finding out this wasn't a stand alone, this book just wasn't enough for me. There were some bits that were just gaah so SO good and there were interesting characters and the writing was beautiful and I loved the mythology, and it's for those bits that I will be reading the next book in this series. But so much of the rest of it was just... meh. I don't think I was ever fully immersed in the world, because the main characters reactions to things were just not genuine at all, and I guess that really bothered me, And surprise: (view spoiler)[ the guy you think is evil turns out to be good, even though that is shockingly and painfully obvious from about a third of the way through the book! (hide spoiler)] 
 I actually really enjoyed the whole part about the crime syndicate and wished that that was more of the book, but it sounds like we'll get a better look at that world in the next book, which I will begrudgingly pick up and read cover to cover. 
 I saw that it has been optioned by Andy Serkis, and while I wasn't nuts about this book I do think that a film that is done well could add what I needed to make this an intriguing and engaging story.