Scan barcode
A review by cmvorra
The Nightshade Cabal by Chris Patrick Carolan
5.0
I need to start this review by saying that I don't typically read steampunk ANYTHING. In the past my experience with steampunk has left me underwhelmed... The few authors I picked up were VERY obsessed with how cool the machinery they thought up was, and they wanted to explain exactly how it worked and where each and every rivet was. The story always seemed like an afterthought for the "hey look at the cool thing I imagined" stuff.
The Nightshade Cabal is NOTHING like that. It originally intrigued me because, from the description, it seemed like the magic would be on equal footing with the steampunk aspects. And it is. It was actually very seamlessly combined to great effect.
I'm not going to go into crazy detail, I'll just tell you some of my favourite things.
The setting is amazing. Carolan does a fantastic job of building these creepy scenes in the best way. The imagery is fantastic and I never had an issue picturing any scene and feeling like I was right there in the creeping fog surrounded by ominous warehouses.
Isaac Barrow is a fantastic main character. I love him. I loved him immediately and wanted him to succeed. I guess this is a bit of a spoiler, but it was also nice to read a book in this vein with no love interest. The private detective-type character doesn't end up getting the girl in this one. In fact, Barrow seems disinterested in it altogether which made me read him as asexual, which was also very refreshing. It's nice to read a book that doesn't force a romantic storyline. Especially when there's so much other more interesting stuff happening than adding a predictable love interest.
Emily is a great female character. She's cheeky and bucks expectation. I loved her voice and found her very unique and fun to read.
Did I mention there's horror aspects to the book as well?! And they're SOOO creepy and draw you right in?! Honestly, this book is so much fun. And the creepy stuff gave me shivers a few times. Not in the kind of way where you won't sleep for a week... just that pleasant little shiver of "No way!" down the spine.
But my favourite thing in the whole book is the combination of magic and machine. It's intriguing and easily understood and just the COOLEST. I love the way they fit together. And Isaac being a master of melding the two is so awesome and has so much potential for future books.
In conclusion: this book was a blast that I couldn't put down. The pacing is fantastic, the characters are awesome and all have such great individual voices, and the world Carolan has created is seriously the coolest. I want to live in it and be friends with everyone, which is usually the best indicator for me that a book is good.
The Nightshade Cabal is NOTHING like that. It originally intrigued me because, from the description, it seemed like the magic would be on equal footing with the steampunk aspects. And it is. It was actually very seamlessly combined to great effect.
I'm not going to go into crazy detail, I'll just tell you some of my favourite things.
The setting is amazing. Carolan does a fantastic job of building these creepy scenes in the best way. The imagery is fantastic and I never had an issue picturing any scene and feeling like I was right there in the creeping fog surrounded by ominous warehouses.
Isaac Barrow is a fantastic main character. I love him. I loved him immediately and wanted him to succeed. I guess this is a bit of a spoiler, but it was also nice to read a book in this vein with no love interest. The private detective-type character doesn't end up getting the girl in this one. In fact, Barrow seems disinterested in it altogether which made me read him as asexual, which was also very refreshing. It's nice to read a book that doesn't force a romantic storyline. Especially when there's so much other more interesting stuff happening than adding a predictable love interest.
Emily is a great female character. She's cheeky and bucks expectation. I loved her voice and found her very unique and fun to read.
Did I mention there's horror aspects to the book as well?! And they're SOOO creepy and draw you right in?! Honestly, this book is so much fun. And the creepy stuff gave me shivers a few times. Not in the kind of way where you won't sleep for a week... just that pleasant little shiver of "No way!" down the spine.
But my favourite thing in the whole book is the combination of magic and machine. It's intriguing and easily understood and just the COOLEST. I love the way they fit together. And Isaac being a master of melding the two is so awesome and has so much potential for future books.
In conclusion: this book was a blast that I couldn't put down. The pacing is fantastic, the characters are awesome and all have such great individual voices, and the world Carolan has created is seriously the coolest. I want to live in it and be friends with everyone, which is usually the best indicator for me that a book is good.