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A review by lorny
Invisible Things by Jenny Davidson
3.0
Much like its predecessor The Explosionist, Invisible Things is a gorgeously written novel with many historical allusions. Like I mentioned in my review of The Explosionist, things can get quite confusing if you don’t recall much of your European history classes. I’d recommend reading the acknowledgements first to re-acquaint yourself with Jenny Davidson’s alternate history.
While Invisible Things wasn’t quite as exciting or inventive as The Explosionist, it did nicely incorporate the Snow Queen fairy tale. I enjoyed picking out parallels to the Hans Christian Anderson story (not familiar with the story? Wikipedia is your friend. I gave myself a refresher course as soon as I realized the tie-in). Though initially the retelling of The Snow Queen seems well done, it didn’t follow through to the end of the book, which was a bit confusing.
Overall, I’d say that Invisible Things was a nice follow-up to The Explosionist, but it didn’t exactly feel necessary. True, it resolved some lingering questions from the first book (the mystery of Sophie’s parents’ death; Sophie’s hypnotically-induced written testimony of the day her parents died), but I wasn’t as satisfied as I thought I’d be. If you’ve read The Explosionist and really loved it, I’d recommend giving Invisible Things a go; the two are written in a similar style.
While Invisible Things wasn’t quite as exciting or inventive as The Explosionist, it did nicely incorporate the Snow Queen fairy tale. I enjoyed picking out parallels to the Hans Christian Anderson story (not familiar with the story? Wikipedia is your friend. I gave myself a refresher course as soon as I realized the tie-in). Though initially the retelling of The Snow Queen seems well done, it didn’t follow through to the end of the book, which was a bit confusing.
Overall, I’d say that Invisible Things was a nice follow-up to The Explosionist, but it didn’t exactly feel necessary. True, it resolved some lingering questions from the first book (the mystery of Sophie’s parents’ death; Sophie’s hypnotically-induced written testimony of the day her parents died), but I wasn’t as satisfied as I thought I’d be. If you’ve read The Explosionist and really loved it, I’d recommend giving Invisible Things a go; the two are written in a similar style.