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Modesitt's writerly tics, so obtrusive in his Recluce fantasy series
(The Magic Engineer), seem less annoying than usual in this routine SF
novel set in an alternative universe in which the Dutch, not the
British, controlled the American colonies. Narrator Johan Eschbach's
preachy tone makes the author's frequent infodumps more palatable than
in other works, for example, though no less arrhythmic. While Eschbach,
a college professor, pads the narrative with his lectures and the
presentation of his academic life, his former profession as a government
operative comes directly into play as he uncovers a conspiracy. In this
world, where unnaturally dead souls remain visible, a plot is afoot in
the highest levels of government to capture these "tangible" souls using
"difference engines" (i.e., computers). Meanwhile, after a music teacher
named Miranda is killed, her ghost spurs Eschbach to find her
murderer-though the killer's identity isn't as veiled as Modesitt
probably wishes, and Eschbach's technological solutions to the novel's
mysteries won't hold most readers' interest (the most engrossing moments
here involve a Shakespeare-quoting shade; again there is a link to The
Tempest, as in the McKillip review above). Moreover, the overly familiar
plot and its complications aren't saved by the author's presenting
Eschbach's personal relationship with a singer named Llysette as little
more than a plot complication. -- Publishers Weekly
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