The series title is more informative than the book title here. Between Two Thorns is volume 1 of the Split World series. World 1 is Mundanus, modern reality as most of us know it. World 2, The Nether, is a connected alternate reality set in Victorian era society where various clans ruled by individual Fae live as immortals. Cathy is born into one of the most prominent wealthy families in the Nether but she does not fit in. She doesn’t like the strict social rules […]
Mystery of the Book Smell
I really enjoyed volume one of this series (The Accidental Alchemist), and I was looking forward to volume 2. The Masquerading Magician keeps up a lot of the things I liked about the first book, adds some good new stuff, but in the end loses some of the intrigue the novelty of the first book had. Two additions make this book almost as good as the first: Dorian’s backstory and Zoe’s fellow alchemist Tobias. The recurring subplot of trying to save Dorian from turning fully […]
Broken steampunk promise
I was ready to like Stormdancer, love it even. But when you promise me “a stunningly original dystopian steampunk world with a flavor of feudal Japan”, that’s what I should get. The dystopian label is fine; I take no issue with that. The book delivers. If this back cover blurb were more accurate, it should say “feudal Japanese world with steampunk flavor”. The book is far more historical fiction than it is steampunk, and the two elements don’t meld together very well at all. This […]
I think many of us would like to visit this library
3.5 stars Irene is an agent of the Library, a place that exists outside normal space and time. In fact, as long as the agents and librarians that work for the Library are there, they do not age in the slightest. Only when they are out in the different worlds of the multiverse, do they visibly age, and how much depends how time passes in the various worlds they find themselves. As an agent of the Library, Irene is sent to retrieve books that are […]