I dislike reading books on computer, or, indeed phone, once the PDF has been converted to whatever it is that phones let you read, but the advanced digital copy of this book overcame that prejudice and had me scrolling bleary-eyed through screen after screen in breathless pursuit of Emmeline and Thing as they embarked on their perilous journeys. A fun and riotous mix of steampunk mad science and mythological fantasy set in the far frozen north, I was instantly reminded of the writings of Joan Aiken and Philip Pullman, but O'Hart stamps her own style on this old-school tale of high adventure.

Emmeline grows up in an unusual household. Her scientist parents have a rather detached, hands-off approach to child-rearing, leaving their young daughter to learn by herself the skills and instincts necessary to survive the various extremely dangerous living specimens lurking around the house and its environs. These skills stand her in good stead when her parents vanish and she is dispatched to Paris across the rising seas. Despite her tendency to assume everyone she meets is trying to kill her, she befriends a stowaway who calls himself Thing and helps her elude a gang of thugs intent on kidnapping her. Ultimately, the thugs succeed, and Emmeline is carried away on a north-bound ship, but Thing and others are in pursuit, and the mad scientist with an eye on immortality is underestimating his captive.

This just rushes along from twist to turn, from wonder to cliffhanger, with a thoroughly engaging pair of protagonists to cheer on and a truly horrible set of villains to boo and hiss at. Lovely writing and a fertile imagination in a unique setting make this a truly enjoyable read.