The Joy of Erudition’s Reviews > The Black Mountains > Status Update

Semi-honourable bad guy Chup is pretty much the real star of this book, and so far his parts are more interesting when dealing with the even-worse-guys than the exploits of the nominal heroes (with the exception of the early genie-tech scenes).

I like how they're summoning a maliciously literal genie to build them technology beyond their current tech level. This is a very interesting blend of magic and technology.

We had to wait until this second book before Rolf actually made any progress looking for his missing sister.