As a life-long non-believer, I went into this novel with a slightly jaundiced eye. Familiar with Caldwell’s capable writing from a previous novel and intrigued by the many positive reviews, I nonetheless was wary of the strong religious context of this mystery. Unfamiliar as I am with the history of the Gospels, I wasn’t sure what to expect but I must confess (no pun intended!) that I came away with a more profound appreciation for the history of Christianity and a fair degree of satisfaction […]
A Finishing School of Covert *itchcraft and Social Wizardry
I had a harder time getting into this book as I have with other series buy the same author. I did eventually start to like the characters once they got to the school and some of the events leading up to the arrival were better explained. The encounter with flywaymen made little sense at first given that I had no idea what they were and the other characters hadn’t been especially well detailed at this early point. The explanation provided during the attack just didn’t […]
Deception! Scandal! Intrigue!
How can you not want to read a book with a title like that? And the book doesn’t disappoint. This thing is 352 pages chock-full of late 19th century sensation, intrigue, and occasional bouts of madness. This story combs through the entirety of the bizarre Druce-Portland affair, a famously strange set of legal cases taking place in the late Victorian and Edwardian eras. The press and public obsessed over it for more than a decade. It’s hard to imagine any case finding the same level […]
Two novellas and a short story.
I really, really like Diana Gabaldon’s Lord John Grey novels, but this collection of shorter stories fell a little bit flat for me. I think what I like most about these books is the character work she does alongside the various mysteries, and there really just wasn’t room for any of that in this short of a format. I think there’s a reason she normally gravitates toward longer books as a writer. (Sidenote: I’m currently reading the second LJG novel and I think it’s hilarious that it’s considered […]
I very badly want to quote Monty Python here but I’m afraid it would be a spoiler.
Well, I can safely say this is the best book I’ve ever read about time-traveling historians and deadly diseases that kill a shit ton of people. And no, it’s not the only book I’ve read about that! I read Timeline about ten years ago, although I barely remember it. Anyway, I love Michael Crichton books, but Connie Willis’s writing is on a whole other level. Although they both write science fiction, Crichton was first and foremost a thriller writer, and judging by Doomsday Book, Willis is […]
Dancing with Werewolves, or at least a Werewolf
I have to admit that I’m actually kind of glad that I read the sequel first. It made this series a lot more fun (and it’s a lot of fun already) for all the “oh, now I get it” moments. The opening of the first volume of the Parasol Protectorate presents vague Cinderella elements in the heroine (although her likely prince charming is both werewolf and not very charming-or is he…). Alexia was never allowed to participate in society in order to give her younger […]
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