To what extent do you figure someone who isn't particularly familiar with Dickens and this unfinished book of his would be bothered by some of these things you bring up? Though your example about the racist liberals made sense to me, I'm familiar enough with Victorianism to see your point there.

I might read it at some point, I guess, but I think I should read a lot of other books by Simmons first - Endymion and sequel, Ilium and Olympos.