[Vox]

Factotum by DM Cornish, an Australian author. It's the last of a fantasy trilogy for children, and reminds me a lot of The Golden Compass in its use of steampunk, breadth and richness of setting, and quasi-historical names and slang. I also got a sort of anti-Christian vibe from it, but unlike Phillip Pullman, DM Cornish says on his site that he is a Christian. There's a lot of gore but no sex, as this is a children's series and the protagonist is a little boy.


There's also evidence of the author's being from Australia, as the cold wildernesses are far to the South, the silk empires are to the West and glorious civilizations are in the hot lands to the North...lol.