Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.46 AVERAGE
3.46 AVERAGE
I could solve some parts of the mystery a little to early, but a great and original story, fantastic characters and a good plot.
lighthearted
mysterious
slow-paced
I found this quite an interesting magical realistic read. In the Elizabethan era (the first one) the town was founded and it has only a few rules, no history older than 200 years, but history has a way of breaking free and influencing the future. Secrets rarely stay secret and the new teacher of history, Jonah Oblong is drawn in. Things are not helped by the new owner of the manor house, Sir Veronal Slickstone and his meddling in things that were hidden and it all becomes quite messy. Understanding the past is important to surviving the present but finding the truth about the past where everyone is trying to ignore the past is hard.
It's an interesting conceit and an interesting story and I'm looking forward to more.
It's an interesting conceit and an interesting story and I'm looking forward to more.
A deeply English bit of fantasy that draws as much from The Wind In The Willows as from Gormenghast, with its band of decent sort heroes and the eccentric architecture of its secluded and insular namesake town, not as gothic as the architecture of its plot, which initially stretches back to Elizabethan times, and later proves to have roots in Roman times, and hints at deeper still. Twelve gifted children are born, though how it is they came to be identified as such remains obscure. Have being presuably spawned by God or the Devil, they are sent to a distant valley to be raised and educated, but the worm is already in the apple.
Modern Rotherweird is an independant city-state that supplies the outside world with technologies both delightful and horrifying, while obeying strict laws against any study of history. When the consummately corrupt mayor sells the centuries-deserted manor in the heart fo the town to a wealthy outsider, he isn't quite prepared for what follows, but a disparate group of men and women gradually gather to oppose him. Lots of mysteries and incidents that swing between the tragic and the comic. There's a murder, though every knows whodunnit, and a Narnian otherworld, albeit a Darwinian nightmare. Mad science and magic jostle with boat races and school pageants, and everyone knows the bad guy is really bad when he shuts down the local. A long, enjoyable, rolling read.
Modern Rotherweird is an independant city-state that supplies the outside world with technologies both delightful and horrifying, while obeying strict laws against any study of history. When the consummately corrupt mayor sells the centuries-deserted manor in the heart fo the town to a wealthy outsider, he isn't quite prepared for what follows, but a disparate group of men and women gradually gather to oppose him. Lots of mysteries and incidents that swing between the tragic and the comic. There's a murder, though every knows whodunnit, and a Narnian otherworld, albeit a Darwinian nightmare. Mad science and magic jostle with boat races and school pageants, and everyone knows the bad guy is really bad when he shuts down the local. A long, enjoyable, rolling read.
Audiobook review.
I really don't like giving books 1 star, I always try to find something positive and I tried, tried and tried again with this but in the end, I had to just give up.
The description and the blurb on the back make me believe this is exactly the kind of book I love but nothing about it held my attention. It felt very.... empty... and the characters were both absurd and flat at the same time.
I really didn't like the style of the narrator - the long pauses made me check if the audible app had crashed on several occasions.
In short - disappointingly not for me.
I really don't like giving books 1 star, I always try to find something positive and I tried, tried and tried again with this but in the end, I had to just give up.
The description and the blurb on the back make me believe this is exactly the kind of book I love but nothing about it held my attention. It felt very.... empty... and the characters were both absurd and flat at the same time.
I really didn't like the style of the narrator - the long pauses made me check if the audible app had crashed on several occasions.
In short - disappointingly not for me.
3.5 stars
Unusual, mannered, quirky and perhaps overlong, this is worth a look for those seeking something a bit different. I ultimately found it a little dry and the characters dissatisfying, but the idiosyncratic world building remains charming and the plot is a lot of fun.
Full review.
I received a free copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Unusual, mannered, quirky and perhaps overlong, this is worth a look for those seeking something a bit different. I ultimately found it a little dry and the characters dissatisfying, but the idiosyncratic world building remains charming and the plot is a lot of fun.
Full review.
I received a free copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
This book took me forever (for me) to read. I loved it, in the beginning and through most of it, but it got to the point where it was just dragging on at times. It was so wordy and so dense, that it felt like I was reading for hours at a time to discover I'd only read 2%.
I liked it, but I wish I had read it outside of a time of reading it for a challenge (when I wanted to be quick and it still took a week) and I would have liked to have taken notes on it. There were so many characters and so much going on. There were 10 characters with last names that started with the letter F, that was unfortunate.
It was good, the town was unique, the story different. I just wish it had been a little less dense, maybe a little shorter, and the characters given more names to go by cuz damn, I could never remember who was who between Finch, Ferdy, Fanguin and Flask. :/
I liked it, but I wish I had read it outside of a time of reading it for a challenge (when I wanted to be quick and it still took a week) and I would have liked to have taken notes on it. There were so many characters and so much going on. There were 10 characters with last names that started with the letter F, that was unfortunate.
It was good, the town was unique, the story different. I just wish it had been a little less dense, maybe a little shorter, and the characters given more names to go by cuz damn, I could never remember who was who between Finch, Ferdy, Fanguin and Flask. :/
Disclaimer: I received this book free from Netgalley in return for an unbiased review.
In Elizabethan times, a group of children were found to have strange abilities. The queen decided the best way to deal with them was to round them all up and have them sent to the town of Rotherweird. A place with no maps, and no history. They would remain there for centuries, without any connection to the outside world. In a sense, banished. Now, in the present day, two outsiders have been allowed to live in the town.
First, a mysterious millionaire that seems to already have more information about the town of Rotherweird than anyone has a right to.
Second, a history teacher who has been ordered not to teach any facts older than 100 years to the town residents. And whats more, forbidden, under any circumstances, to look into the town’s history.
Obviously, there is a lot going on here. The book is not all fog and mystery though. It also has a great deal of charm and humor. The town’s inhabitants are understandably a quirky bunch of people. It seems like it would be a nice little English town to settle down in, if they would let you. But there is more going on behind the scenes and quite a bit of magic flowing through the area.
If you like strange, mysterious fantasy, this is the book for you. It does have a little bit of a learning curve. I wasn’t paying close enough attention at first and got kind of lost among all the characters. So be sure you concentrate on the first few chapters. I enjoyed the book, and will probably be looking up more books in the series.
Song for this book: Past Lives – Borns
In Elizabethan times, a group of children were found to have strange abilities. The queen decided the best way to deal with them was to round them all up and have them sent to the town of Rotherweird. A place with no maps, and no history. They would remain there for centuries, without any connection to the outside world. In a sense, banished. Now, in the present day, two outsiders have been allowed to live in the town.
First, a mysterious millionaire that seems to already have more information about the town of Rotherweird than anyone has a right to.
Second, a history teacher who has been ordered not to teach any facts older than 100 years to the town residents. And whats more, forbidden, under any circumstances, to look into the town’s history.
Obviously, there is a lot going on here. The book is not all fog and mystery though. It also has a great deal of charm and humor. The town’s inhabitants are understandably a quirky bunch of people. It seems like it would be a nice little English town to settle down in, if they would let you. But there is more going on behind the scenes and quite a bit of magic flowing through the area.
If you like strange, mysterious fantasy, this is the book for you. It does have a little bit of a learning curve. I wasn’t paying close enough attention at first and got kind of lost among all the characters. So be sure you concentrate on the first few chapters. I enjoyed the book, and will probably be looking up more books in the series.
Song for this book: Past Lives – Borns