Scan barcode
kribu's review
3.0
I have mixed feelings about this one.
Interesting worldbuilding - a sort of a mix of alternate universe and alternative history, set in the future, feels steampunkish but is really quite considerably different in nature - but .... then there was the requisite mooning over a pretty young man, and the plot was kind of meandering around and only really got somewhere towards the end (or rather that's when I realised that there is a plot at all), and I never really properly warmed to Vespa, and ... eh.
I liked bits of it quite well, and then there were bits where I struggled to keep awake (my usual reading time is around between 7-10 pm, so it's not like I actually read in bed with the aim to fall asleep), so... yeah. Mixed feelings.
Interesting worldbuilding - a sort of a mix of alternate universe and alternative history, set in the future, feels steampunkish but is really quite considerably different in nature - but .... then there was the requisite mooning over a pretty young man, and the plot was kind of meandering around and only really got somewhere towards the end (or rather that's when I realised that there is a plot at all), and I never really properly warmed to Vespa, and ... eh.
I liked bits of it quite well, and then there were bits where I struggled to keep awake (my usual reading time is around between 7-10 pm, so it's not like I actually read in bed with the aim to fall asleep), so... yeah. Mixed feelings.
booksofafeather's review
4.0
It was a fun mixture of steampunk and fantasy. It was very refreshing after so many of the cookie-cutter dystopian YA's I've read lately. It's a bit formulaic and predictable but still a very enjoyable adventure and I was glad that the romance elements did not take center stage.
wayfarer's review
2.0
Disappointing, and not just because the protagonist doesn't resemble the woman on the cover. Some clever ideas, but the writing doesn't live up to it. To be honest, I thought this was an okay first novel...but it's not a first novel.
jaironside's review
5.0
I'm utterly in love with the world in this book. Trent has combined the zeal of the Victorian naturalists with the mythology of the ages to create something fresh and utterly absorbing. I love how religion is turned on its head in an approximation of Victorian London, interrupted in its scientific development. Instead of an industrial revolution - the misplaced part of London, now New London, - has followed it's own logic and is powered by the scientific application of materials found and refined in the dimension it was removed too. But myth - the raw material - comes at a horrific price...
This is the age old story of Science versus magic told in a completely new way. While mention of Old London is strictly prohibited, New London values and social mores have changed little in 600 years. It's hard for a young lady to pursue academia rather than prepare for a good marriage. Vespa Nyx has always loved the museum where her father works. She is fascinated by the study if 'unnaturals' - strange, mythological creatures that exist side by side with New London and its Church of Science and Logic. But these creatures are not the dumb, lesser beings that Vespa imagines...
Syrus is a tinker lad - part of an ancient culture of people who live close to the land and possess the talent to communicate and live in harmony with unnaturals. But an impetuous act sets a doom on Syrus' people, and Syrus himself pays a terrible price.
And in the forest, the last manticore nurses an old grudge and protects the land from the creeping Waste that threatens to destroy everything. Balance needs to be restored but for that the tinkers, the scientists, the nobility and the Manticore all need a witch - and the last witch was executed hundreds of years before ...
This was utterly mesmerizing and a complete page turner. The plot when boiled down was fairly easy to predict but the journey to get there was so worth it. Vespa is loveable - a little awkward, clumsy, bright and funny, and overall possessed of a true scientific mind which does not seek to distort fact or evidence no matter how it changes one's world view. I did think that she might have worked out the riddle of the toad a lot faster - that didn't fit with her character.
Syrus is a likeable young rogue in training, a few years younger than Vespa but worldly in ways she is not and fiercely loyal to his clan.
Ultimately this book did have plot holes but it was easy to overlook them when caught up in the adventure. A must read for fantasy and steam punk fans of all stripes.
This is the age old story of Science versus magic told in a completely new way. While mention of Old London is strictly prohibited, New London values and social mores have changed little in 600 years. It's hard for a young lady to pursue academia rather than prepare for a good marriage. Vespa Nyx has always loved the museum where her father works. She is fascinated by the study if 'unnaturals' - strange, mythological creatures that exist side by side with New London and its Church of Science and Logic. But these creatures are not the dumb, lesser beings that Vespa imagines...
Syrus is a tinker lad - part of an ancient culture of people who live close to the land and possess the talent to communicate and live in harmony with unnaturals. But an impetuous act sets a doom on Syrus' people, and Syrus himself pays a terrible price.
And in the forest, the last manticore nurses an old grudge and protects the land from the creeping Waste that threatens to destroy everything. Balance needs to be restored but for that the tinkers, the scientists, the nobility and the Manticore all need a witch - and the last witch was executed hundreds of years before ...
This was utterly mesmerizing and a complete page turner. The plot when boiled down was fairly easy to predict but the journey to get there was so worth it. Vespa is loveable - a little awkward, clumsy, bright and funny, and overall possessed of a true scientific mind which does not seek to distort fact or evidence no matter how it changes one's world view. I did think that she might have worked out the riddle of the toad a lot faster - that didn't fit with her character.
Syrus is a likeable young rogue in training, a few years younger than Vespa but worldly in ways she is not and fiercely loyal to his clan.
Ultimately this book did have plot holes but it was easy to overlook them when caught up in the adventure. A must read for fantasy and steam punk fans of all stripes.
More...