A review by kadyjak
The Dark Lady by Chris Turner, Pierdomenico Baccalario, Iacopo Bruno, Alessandro Gatti

1.0

Abandoned at page 100. I wanted to like this. It sounded interesting and I love the overall look of the book, but it just wasn't good. A big part of that might be due to translation. I'm not sure why someone thought it was believable for anyone in the mid 1800s to say something like, "It's a really cool place." I'm sure kids wouldn't catch it (or the many other inconsistencies in dialogue), but it just sounded ridiculous for the time period.
Irene is obnoxious, arrogant, and silly (not in a funny way). I'm not sure why we're supposed to like her. The mystery should have been interesting, but the author - I don't think we can pin this one on translation - managed to make it boring. A lot of the kids' motivation and actions seemed irrational and transitions were choppy.
Maybe there was a decent plot in there somewhere, but I'm not interested in reading long enough to find out.