From start to finish, I thoroughly enjoyed The Electrical Menagerie. It reminded me of the “The Night Circus” with less of the dark undertones that other, equally excellent book had. The characters, plot, and story are superb. I recommend plunking down your credit and getting started, rather than reading my minor quibbles with the book…
If I had any complaints, it might be some aspects of the world-building. It could be me missing something, but I didn’t realize until the end of the book that the trains could fly. Overall I wanted a little more detail about the way the Celestial Isles world works, since the structure seems to be quite unusual (floating islands over an ether sea?). But that’s a relatively minor complaint and one which could easily be fixed by the sequel, which can’t come fast enough as far as I’m concerned.
The writing also lapses into “telling” language occasionally. There’s a few events that feel brushed over where I really wanted a little more detail about what was happening, or had just happened. Again, minor complaint.
The narrator took a little getting used to, but it didn’t take long for his narration style to grow on me. I mostly listened at 1.15 speed. 1.20 (my usual preference) felt a little fast.
I received a copy of The Electrical Menagerie in exchange for an honest review, which you’ve just finished reading, probably while listening to the sample of the audiobook. Go ahead and take the plunge, I’m confident you won’t regret it.