Shadows Fall — Simon R. Green

Considered by the author to be his finest work yet, this is a novel of realistic detail, heartfelt emotion, and dazzling imagination that builds a world readers won't want to leave and spins a tale they won't want to end. In a town of amazing magicks, where the real and the imagined live side by side and the Faerie of legend know the automatons of the future, Time sees all -- but even he cannot escape the prophecy of James Hart's return, which can only mean the death of Shadows Fall.