I liked how grounded this book felt. The details of train service, survivors trying to recover after the wreck, the squabbling among various factions of train passengers, the differences between types of magic — all of these felt thoughtfully explored.
If you’ve read my novel Mirror Maze, then you already know that I’m just a tad obsessive about accurate historical detail. I admit it: it just drives me nuts to read a supposed period piece only to discover that it is chock full of anachronisms and all the characters have a completely 21st century ‘tude. Perhaps my suspension of disbelief is more fragile than some, but that always knocks me right out of the story. So when I’m writing, I research. But. . . The thing about research is that you never know where it will lead you. Sometimes it won’t take you anywhere (or at least nowhere useful.) I had a character once who heard a loud bonging noise. I wanted to say that it sounded like Big Ben, but I figured I should check if Big Ben had been built in 1886. It seemed like a simple yes or no question. I discovered immediately that the tower for Big Ben was certainly in place. The clock was installed in plenty of time. But the bell was put in later. After four hours of research (during which I learned many interesting things about Victorian construction techniques, the sociological functions of large
