Tom Beckerlegge‘s alternative historical novel has beautiful imagery and grounds the fictional city of Cadenza with an authentic sense of place. I enjoyed the conceit of dividing the city‘s overarching story between 12 individual stories (or Cantos), but too many lacked a resolution (notably the one about the Ink Maiden Hypatia) and while some characters appear in multiple Cantos, none of them are as well developed as they could be.