"Born storyteller Ian Whates takes us on a gripping, terrifying trip-of-a-lifetime, through the heights and depths of the exotically grim city of Thaiburley, in this excellent fantasy thriller."
– Tanith Lee
"Adventures in a nightmare citadel – a story that hits the ground running and doesn't let up."
– Liz Williams
"The elements which constitute this novel may be familiar – a vast, stratified community, a ragamuffin on the run, criminals and officials vying for supremacy – but Whates's assured prose, slick pacing and inventive imagination make for a gripping read. His first novel is the work of a born storyteller."
– The Guardian
"Brilliantly inventive."
– SFX
"It is his characters who live through the story and make the reader need to know just how it's all going to pan out, human characters who may seem familiar but then there's that one thing, that shifted alteration that changes the world and changes the reader too."
– Michael Cobley