The cover caught my eye first. And man, what a pretty cover! 
 Then I read some good reviews, and I thought to myself that I quite fancied an alternate history / fantasy read. So I went for it. 
 This story has all the necessary ingredients to produce a plot that I'll be head-over-heels for. There's an interesting and well-developed alternate history, enough information is given that at times I had to try to sift through what was fictional and what was based in reality. The magic system was interesting, if flawed (it just didn't seem fully fleshed out to me, like there was something missing that would provide the final piece to the puzzle and it would all make more sense). I really liked the concept of the Hidden Ones, mythical beings with powers that haven't yet been fully explored. There's still plenty to come there, and they certainly piqued my interest. 
 It goes out of its way to tick a lot of other boxes too: a mixed-race heroine, Japanese and Chinese characters, a transgender man. The story tackles racism and sexism, though it seems to forget that those were the norms back in 1906. 
 However, the heroine is most definitely not at all a product of her time, which made her stick out like a sore thumb. The same can be said of her romantic interest. They were both so forward-thinking as to affect my reading. They just didn't come across as people who could really have been walking the streets of San Francisco a century ago. 
 The insta-romance between the two characters didn't allow me the time to become invested in their relationship, and that affected my interest in it. I much prefer when an author takes the time to develop a romance, rather than just tell the reader it's there and expect them to just accept it. 
 Some of the characters were very interesting. I especially liked Lee and Fenris, both of whom could end up playing more important roles in the next books. 
 It took me a long time to read this book. I think it just didn't succeed in keeping my interest very well a lot of the time, and I think that was more to do with the characters than the setting. For me, it wasn't bad, but it wasn't great. However, I can quite imagine that it will really appeal to some readers who are looking for different things in a story than I am.