Tuttle does an excellent job of creating a fantasy world and tweaking the archetypes of the different types of stock fantasy characters.  Seeing the world evolve and develop during the course of his various books is a pleasure.  This particular book is darker than the other Markhat stories, although it does retain the element of humor that is more prominent in the other Markhat stories.  If you enjoy Terry Pratchett (think Vimes and not Rincewind), then you will enjoy Tuttle's books.  But read them in order, especially if you have a Kindle since the stories are only $0.99 apiece (I feel guilty - I want to at least take Tuttle out and buy him a couple of beers since I bought his entire library for only $8).  By Stephon, hijacking his wife's Amazon account because I'm too lazy to create my own.