I'm not even going to try to be objective about the novel itself right now, except to say that it's got an extraordinarily fun premise (an alternate 19th century, in which the Roman Empire still exists and is duking it out with Victorian Britain and several other empires for supremacy, in which magic not only exists but is a major shaper of events great and small, and in which there be dragons of both the eastern and western variety). The characters are charming as hell, except when they're mysterious or sinister, and I had a great time narrating it once I got used to pronouncing all the Welsh place names. Yes, Welsh! For this novel is set in Wales, China/Qin and Japan/Yamoto!
And did I mention dragons? Because DRAGONS, y'all!
Oh, and this is merely the first book in a series called The Year of the Dragon. So, go have a listen to The Shadow of Black Wings over at Podiobooks.com. It's free! But watch out, you might get hooked!
