Pashazade (Jon Courtenay Grimwood)

Something a little bit different - kind of a cyberpunk noir, but VERY light on the cyberpunk (no bad thing). It's very well done and has an interesting interwoven flashback structure, but my one criticism is that there weren't enough real clues as to whodunnit, leaving the whole thing crashing to a rather abrupt ending full of exposition. Still, a good mystery with some nice characters - one of whom, the quirkiest and most likeable by far, I was really sorry to see go.

An interesting setting, if not fully explored, I was totally gripped after I managed to get past the slightly slow first third. I have started the second book, Effendi, which promises to explore a bit more of the world.
This is essentially a detective novel in a quirky setting, rather than a novel looking at the possibilities of parrallel timelines.

An exciting who-dunnit with some good characters and a strong plot. I'd question it's inclusion in a science-fiction/fantasy discussion group as the future-tech and alternate reality are really only convenient plot devices and aren't discussed in too much depth. That said, I'll probably read the sequel.