Another fantastic read. Asbrey knows her history and her forensics so very well. There were two main mystery plots, both engaging, and the second espeAnother fantastic read. Asbrey knows her history and her forensics so very well. There were two main mystery plots, both engaging, and the second especially intriguing. Abi, Nat, and Jake continue to deepen as characters, through the glimpses we get of their respective pasts, especially. The alternate slow burn and fireworks between Abi and Nat continues, and leaves the reader eager to see where they go next....more
This one had me a bit puzzled -- it's a Victorian detective romance with more than a bit of steampunk in it. It appeared to be a straight up VictorianThis one had me a bit puzzled -- it's a Victorian detective romance with more than a bit of steampunk in it. It appeared to be a straight up Victorian, but weird and wonderful inventions kept popping up, as well as a heroine who evinced a desire to become an engineer (classic steampunk heroine). The characters not only had a fair bit of sex (which, after all, it is a romance novel) but also less probably bantered sexually in a way that seemed quite out of period. And the solution came out of nowhere, so that, despite the Scotland Yard officer as hero, there wasn't really a mystery.
This posthumously published work feels like a completed first or second draft, tremendously interesting because of its subject matter -- Paleontology This posthumously published work feels like a completed first or second draft, tremendously interesting because of its subject matter -- Paleontology Wars! Deadwood! -- but not as fleshed out as presumably a final draft from Crichton's hand would have been. He's got a wonderful subject here, and why this one never got finalized and published during his lifetime is puzzling. But there are forewarnings that never go anywhere (Chekhov's gun didn't go off), a paper thin late-in-the-game love interest, and other development issues that no doubt he would have addressed had he finished the project himself. Certainly it's worth the reading, especially if, like me, you weren't very familiar with Cope and Marsh and the Bone Wars, which is utterly fascinating. A good chunk of the novel takes place in Deadwood. It is certainly not Crichton's fault that David Milch did such an amazing job in the Deadwood tv series that the reader misses Al Swearengen or Seth Bullock in these pages. However, bonus points for effective use of Wyatt Earp....more
This book has everything I love most in it, and I . . . liked it. I think it's just that there's too much going on. Mary Jekyll, after her mother's deThis book has everything I love most in it, and I . . . liked it. I think it's just that there's too much going on. Mary Jekyll, after her mother's death, discovers a sisterhood of young women who are daughters -- or creations -- of Victorian mad scientists: Diana Hyde, Beatrice Rappacini, Justine Frankenstein, and Catherine Moreau. Plus, they work with Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. While the Victorian feel is accurate, and the characters appealling, especially in their trope of found family, it feels overcrowded. It's just no Penny Dreadful, though it is feminist and fun.
Also, I confess that in matters Frankenstein, I am team Creature, and here Victor Frankenstein is seen as the better of the two....more
This is a book I'd say I wished I'd written, except then I wouldn't have had the fun of reading it. Abigail MacKay, the female Pinkerton, is a delightThis is a book I'd say I wished I'd written, except then I wouldn't have had the fun of reading it. Abigail MacKay, the female Pinkerton, is a delightful heroine, strong and resourceful but deeply human. Hero Nat Quinn is a worthy adversary and love interest, and his partner, Jake Conroy, equally well-drawn. Asbrey's worked in the criminal justice system, and it shows -- she really knows her stuff. I'd say she'd lived in the 19th century, too, as she gets that letter-perfect -- I did my grad work in Victorian literature and way too many historical novels throw me right out of the story with anachronisms; Asbrey absolutely did not. I want to read more about these characters, and see how they're thrown together again, soon -- and luckily, the next one is out later this summer, so I won't have to wait a year to find out . . . ...more
The only female doctor in England, Garrett Gibson (based on real-life Elizabeth Garrett Anderson) falls in love with a government agent. While their iThe only female doctor in England, Garrett Gibson (based on real-life Elizabeth Garrett Anderson) falls in love with a government agent. While their instant attraction (apparently he has been thinking about her for two years since meeting her in an earlier installment, but his life is dangerous and he has been keeping away to protect her) feels a bit peculiar -- hasn't he kind of been stalking her? -- the author sold it, as well as building a solidly believable Victorian scenario. Garrett practices bartitsu (that is what cane fighting is really called; you can also use your umbrella) and is dedicated to her career and her elderly father and keeps the world at a safe distance. In other words, she is aweseome. Ransom seems a fairly typical romance hero (I dip my toes into these waters only occasionally and could be wrong), but he's extremely appealing and so is she and I got thoroughly caught up in their relationship....more
This novella is the prelude to a longer book, which I am now looking forward to immensely. Brauneis creates a solid sense of place -- the opening scenThis novella is the prelude to a longer book, which I am now looking forward to immensely. Brauneis creates a solid sense of place -- the opening scenes, of a pair of outlaws fleeing a posse on horseback, through blizzard conditions, is so vivid I could imagine myself there. Jack and Leon, outlaws but not truly bad men, stumble across a ranch and meet a family whose welcome shows them a new way of life, but all too soon reality closes back in . . . The author's clear understanding of horses adds to the sense of time and place. Fans of the old Alias Smith and Jones tv series will enjoy this, as well anyone who likes action, adventure, and the possibility of redemption....more
I've enjoyed the novels in this series which I've read previously. This one, which I picked up at random in a thrift store, seems very much to want toI've enjoyed the novels in this series which I've read previously. This one, which I picked up at random in a thrift store, seems very much to want to be read in order. Much of the book was referring to occurrences in previous books, and there was not nearly enough of Charlotte. ...more
Having binge-read the first two books in the series, I bogged down on this one, and took a break -- but came back and finished happily. Pandora was a Having binge-read the first two books in the series, I bogged down on this one, and took a break -- but came back and finished happily. Pandora was a delightful secondary character in the earlier books, and though I wondered whether she could carry a book on her own, the answer is yes.
I like this very unconventional heroine, though if she was written for a male audience I might accuse her of having manic pixie dream girl tendencies. But watching her engage with a mainstream Victorian culture which she is ill-prepared for, by her isolated upbringing, has many pleasures. Not the least of them is that I can now say I've read a romance novel in which married women's property laws are a central roadblock to the lead pair's happiness, and Victorian women doctors save the day.
I'm looking forward to the final book in the sequence, in which the female doctor character is heroine; if Kleypas had sat down specifically to target me and get me to read romance (as obviously she did not), she'd be going about it all right.
This one uses class issues and the rise of retail culture as the background for the central romance. Having devoured every episode of Mr. Selfridge, IThis one uses class issues and the rise of retail culture as the background for the central romance. Having devoured every episode of Mr. Selfridge, I enjoyed it quite a bit....more
I have an interest in modern representations of the Victorians; also we leave books to exchange in the lobby of my apartment building . . . since I reI have an interest in modern representations of the Victorians; also we leave books to exchange in the lobby of my apartment building . . . since I read romances only occasionally, I am never certain I fully understand the conventions in the way that their fans do.
I'm still uncertain why the hero is a Cold-Hearted Rake, since he not only saves a crumbling and mismanaged estate, changing the lives of the family, and his own brother, and the tenant farmers, for the better. True, he has commitment issues (with backstory that makes it thoroughly understandable), and the heroine, likewise, is understandably in a place where she is not ready to jump into a conventional relationship. But of course, there is a happy ending, and I was engaged enough that when the author used the Epilogue to set up the next story in the series, I ordered it for my Kindle.
Since I have studied the period fairly extensively, I was delighted to see the use of late Victorian agricultural economics as a central plot motivator, and used effectively....more
My fondest wish is that Susanna Clarke will put out another book in the same universe as Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. My next-fondest was that I'My fondest wish is that Susanna Clarke will put out another book in the same universe as Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. My next-fondest was that I'd find something I enjoyed as much. That second wish, at least, has been granted. Sorcerer to the Crown is worthy of the comparison -- it's briefer, fluffier, and not on the grand scale of JS&MN, and it's entirely fair to call it a cross between Clarke and Georgette Heyer, as I've seen in more than one place. And it's thoroughly enjoyable.
Prunella Gentleman, one of the two protagonists, is in some ways the Jonathan Strange of the text -- her magic is instinctive; she gets bored reading magical theory. At the beginning, she wants nothing more than woman of the upper classes in her time and place want -- to make a good marriage. But the novel doesn't blame her for this -- it's the society she's raised in. And if she can convince this world to overlook her origins as the possibly illegitimate daughter of an English gentleman and an Indian woman, it's a goal she might well succeed at . . . if not for the something far better that awaits her talents and her real heritage.
Zacharias Wythe, the Sorcerer Royal, would prefer to be immured in a library somewhere with his researches, but his guardian, Sir Stephen Wythe, had groomed him as his successor. Zacharias might be the Mr. Norrell of the tale, except that he is young, handsome, and black -- a freed slave whom the Wythe family has raised. But while the Sir Stephen and Lady Wythe love him, the other members of the Thaumaturgical Society hold the usual prejudices of the day.
There are some wonderful secondary characters, and while the plot is somewhat secondary to establishing the world and its inhabitants, the whole thing is delightful. Regency(ish) England is presented as multicultural in the ways it historically *was*, and it's made clear that there is a much larger and more diverse world outside of its borders. Later installments should productively build on what's been established here, and if the stakes are raised, with the Napoleonic Wars at hand, as well as the wry, almost Wodehouse-like fairyland, anything could happen. The next installment will be a hardcover buy for me. ...more
I jumped into this series this far in, because I was looking to make some final purchases at the late and sorely lamented St. Mark's Bookshop in NYC. I jumped into this series this far in, because I was looking to make some final purchases at the late and sorely lamented St. Mark's Bookshop in NYC. (They were trying to sell off their stock to pay their creditors . . . ) The cover caught my eye, and so I added it to my stack. So my perceptions are probably very different from those people who've been following the series.
The book was well plotted, and while there was a fair bit of retelling which was helpful to me as a reader coming in ten books into the series, it felt effortless in that good way where the author clearly knows her characters and the world she's writing about. Late nineteenth-century New York was well-handled, though I would have liked perhaps more visual description of what the characters were seeing, but nothing felt anachronistic. ...more
I received this book as an Early Reviewers book from LibraryThing, and the untimeliness of my review is largely because I attempted, and bounced off, I received this book as an Early Reviewers book from LibraryThing, and the untimeliness of my review is largely because I attempted, and bounced off, the first story several times. Military SF really isn't my thing, even when it's steampunk. What I really enjoyed are the Madame Magdala stories, which spin off from the worldbuilding in the earlier Shadow Conspiracy stories series which Radford edited. Anything to do with Ada Lovelace, Mary Shelley, or Lord Byron, and I'm pretty much there, and Radford plays with these characters in an interesting way. The writing, honestly, did not do much for me -- though Magdala and her sister, the steampunk pirate Trude, are very different characters, their voices didn't seem that different to me. However, there's a good bit of imagination and steampunk tech here....more
**spoiler alert** I was excited to read this version of Eliot's Daniel Deronda from Gwendolen's point of view. I should say that I own two sequels to **spoiler alert** I was excited to read this version of Eliot's Daniel Deronda from Gwendolen's point of view. I should say that I own two sequels to Daniel Deronda called Gwendolen, this one published recently, and the other, anonymously authored, from 1878. (I have only been able to bring myself to skim that one, as Mirah dies, Deronda converts back to Christianity, and the Victorian conformity which this novel wonderfully sidesteps comes right back into place, as Anglican Widowed Daniel can marry Gwendolen. E.)
The typical critical response has always been that the Gwendolen parts of the novel are the best. I love her to bits, but I disagree -- sure Daniel is a bit of a judgmental prig, but he's interesting. Like Eliot's Dorothea Brooke, he's looking for some kind of meaning, and some kind of transcendence, and he finds it in discovering that he's actually Jewish (the circumstances of his birth having been kept from him). I mean, this is a Victorian Novel, and the hero is all "yay! I've just found out I'm Jewish! Yay!" which is not the kind of thing that happens in most Victorian novels.
But then there's Gwendolen, who's kind of like the pretty anti-heroines who Eliot clearly dislikes, like Rosamund Vincy and Hetty Sorrel. Except she's more self-aware than they are, and so limited by her circumstances, like Dorothea Brooke, who Eliot and I both adore. Souhami's retelling has a nicely feminist ending, involving a friendship with the real Eliot and more importantly, women's rights activist Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon, who crusaded for married women's property rights. (Up to this point, when you married, everything belonged to your husband.) So I like that, except that this sort of thing happens pretty often in neovictorian novels.
I liked the narrative voice, but I wasn't really convinced by it. Souhami and I love some of the same characters -- Sir Hugo and Hans and Rex, in particular. But Gwendolen's obsession with Daniel starts to ring wrong to me. I think it's absolutely true she is hoping they will end up together, and is disappointed at the sudden turn of events of his marrying Mirah and going off to the Middle East. But I also think that, priggish and judgmental as Daniel can be, he does care for Gwendolen and he is honorable and would keep his promise to write Gwendolen. The interior life of the characters feels subtly off, at least to me. I do like that "Mrs. Lewes" suggests she thought that Gwendolen and Rex might get together after all (I always wondered that, too, though honestly he's her first cousin so really better not) but she sees that's not happening. That's a pretty cool metacommentary. ...more
As a final visit to the world of the Clockwork Century series, this is distinctly disappointing -- we find out that the "rotter" plague has run its coAs a final visit to the world of the Clockwork Century series, this is distinctly disappointing -- we find out that the "rotter" plague has run its course, and one of the protagonists is Horatio Korman, the Texas ranger who's played a role in several of the other books. The haunted hotel of the title is mechanized in some ways, but honestly, without those few references, this feels more like Priest's horror fiction than her steampunk.
On the other hand, I was pleased to see Sister Eileen Callaghan, the nun-with-a-secret of the non-Clockwork Dreadful Skin, and to meet gunslinger-turned-priest Juan Rios. I'd love to see these two have further ghostbusting adventures -- maybe Priest will revisit them again, someday.
Reread less than a year later (!) as part of a reread of the whole Clockwork Century. I felt a bit more in sympathy with the haunted hotel aspect, but it's still not Priest's best, from my perspective....more
I'm a fan of Hieber's Victorian gothics/gaslamp fantasies, so I was excited for her hardcover debut.
There's a lot to say in its favor. The Eterna FileI'm a fan of Hieber's Victorian gothics/gaslamp fantasies, so I was excited for her hardcover debut.
There's a lot to say in its favor. The Eterna Files is a delight for Hieber's fans, because of the plentiful cameos by characters from her Magic Most Foul and Strangely Beautiful series. Hieber has a genuine feel for, and knowledge of, the era -- I was actually startled to discover one small historic inaccuracy, because she's that good.
The biggest flaw that the Eterna Files has is that it's too short by half. There's a lot going on, between the New York and London plots, and a large number of engaging characters. If the book were a bit slower-paced, there would have been more chance to develop things further.
Still, I'll be waiting eagerly for the next one, and not just because of that cliffhanger ending . . .
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