The Light Ages

In the year 1678, Joshua Wagstaff discovered aether. Once refined, aether had the power to keep blades sharp and make bridges stable, to power telegraphs and heat homes. Aether, its secrets jealously guarded by the Guilds, became the glue that bound English society together, and started the Industrial Revolution. But Robert Burrows has seen the dark side of aether in his native Yorkshire, and when he flees to London, he joins the growing revolution, determined to overthrow the Guilds. Roaming the vast city and exploring its myriad social layers, from petty criminals and revolutionaries to salon mistresses and opium dreamers, Robbie discovers secrets that threaten the very fabric of society, secrets that involves the deepest mysteries of aether. A masterpiece both of radical urban fantasy and of alternative history.
Locus.