I am finally getting around to this Hugo nominee from last year. It starts off awesome, with a cold, gothic, sepulchral mood and some sass. I enjoyed the first duel between Gideon and Harrow. I loved the implications of the reanimated corpses and bones. I fell in love with the world, even if I did wonder "how do the houses function as a society?"

Then the middle section meanders as we go through the, well, locked room mystery, and figure out whodunit. I had a hard time keeping track of some of the characters.

Then the end picked up speed and slammed into me like a freight train. This was an epic climax! Where was this action the whole book? (Okay, we got glimpses in a couple of duels.)

In the end, allowing for the meandering middle that could use some fleshing out in some ways, and the fat trimmed in others, 3 stars. I'm still checking out the second book because of that epic finish and the cool cover art.