Engine City, Ken MacLeod
There are other SF series that combine the Vast Forces of History with
long-pursued personal human intrigue, and aliens and magical
technology, but I cannot think of another living writer who compresses
it into as few pages.
"I apologize for sending you such a long letter; I did not have time to
write a short one." (Attributed to Wilde, Kipling and Churchill;
Kipling seems unlikely.)
ISBN: 0-765-30502-X
So wrote clew in
SF&F.