Cripes, I already finished it. It was that good.
It actually reminds me a lot of China Mieville's Perdido Street station with its approach to world building and plot/pacing, although replace steampunky fantasy London with dystopian sf Muslim desert planet.
You might like this if you like…
William Gibson, China Mieville’s Perdido Street Station, Sigourney Weaver in the Aliens franchise, Fallout with the bloody mess trait.
What to expect:
hardboiled dames and hardboiled prose
a lot of insects
acid guns and body parts
great characters and skillful world building
pacing/plot like Perdido Street Station. The author goes easy in the first third, then it launches into a thriller in the second, and the third is pretty good but plausibility gets strained. The ending is much better though. I'm still quite ticked at Perdido's ending
I've got the full on review if anyone's interested:
http://fridafantastic.wordpress.com/...n-hurley-2011/