Her world-building treatment perfectly straddles the line between derivative and inspired, between historical and fantastical; but on exposition alone, the story is not entirely different. Her people are dear, vicious, and real, right down to the piss and the dislocated shoulder; but on characterization alone, the story is not entirely different. What Micklem has done, in creating such a different novel, is do everything (mostly) right rather than one thing brilliantly, another passably, and the last poorly.