I picked this up after reading some good reviews of this book and its sequel on SFSite. At the bookstore, I also saw the cover quote comparing it to Phillip Pullman and China Mieville's work, the latter of whom is one of my favorites.

Light Ages definitely lived up to the hype. The comparison with Mieville is apt, in that they both manage to create worlds where the economy and politics feel very real, but different and influenced by the presence of magic. Light Ages takes place in an alternate Victorian London where a substance called aether (kind of like a magical equivalent of petroleum) was discovered a few hundred years back, kicking of a magical industrial revolution.

There's lots to like about this book, and it's just solidly written, with very real characters, real magic, and real consideration of politics and economics. It's not as bleak as Mieville's work, but it's not some sort of happy elf-land fantasy world either.

I'm going to try to pick up the sequel, The House of Storms, this weekend.