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notorious thief has been found dead, but the same night he
appears to be very much at large. How can he be dead and alive
at the same time? As Sir Maurice Newbury descends further
into opium addiction his assistant Veronica Hobbes’
sister is undergoing revolutionary treatment. Amelia’s
seizures seem to be getting fewer but what is Dr Fabian really
up to in the Grayling Institute? Then it also appears as though
a secret society is plotting to overthrow the queen…
This series truly is quintessential steampunk, a sub-genre
not often as well delineated as it is here. Mann has created
an alternative 1902 that does more than resemble our own with
a few extra inventions; from the revenant plague to a nightmare
version of Queen Victoria this is very much a different place.
The protagonists who at first seemed so sketchily drawn really
come alive in this book and I at last feel that I know them
better. There is a neat balance with fallible Maurice with
his dabbling in drugs and the occult to further his knowledge,
and the more pragmatic Veronica with her sick sister and distant
parents. What powers this book mostly is its pacy plot, which
hits the ground running in an opium den before moving to a
crime scene. There is always something going on and it is
usually rather lively, from robot spiders to mad scientists,
steam carriage chases to secret society meetings. If you like
action-packed novels that seem to hark back to the days of
pulp magazines then you will enjoy this series. More please!
Reviewers
Note: Some violence and gory scenes
Reviews
of other titles in this series
The
Osiris Ritual #2
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