And Deanna Raybourn remains a delightful and intriguing mystery writer. Her heroine and hero are still sniping at one another and solving mysteries and generally being agreeable.
And, of course, her style remains lovely to read and the effort she puts into her research makes the book far more rewarding than it would be otherwise. She's funny, sweet and has a good handle on what a well-written mystery feels like.
Though, I must say, this was the first time I had guessed her plot from beginning to end, villain and motive included. (Possible spoiler, if you get the reference - that may George R. R. Martin's fault as I had Lannisters on the brain).
Predictability aside, I'm still having a great time with this series.

Fortunately, Deanna Raybourn is not one of those authors who has a wonderful first book and then slowly goes downhill. Writing in the tradition of the detective stories that remain with the characters as time goes on, Raybourn's second book in the Lady Julia Grey series is quite as good as the first, with the same breathtaking fun and suspenseful storytelling as before. She reminds me of both Dorothy Sayers and Lauren Willig, in vastly different ways, of course, but her talent for writing mysteries with compelling, three dimensional characters has not abated and, were it not very close to my bedtime, I would be hauling out the third book and starting to inhale it as well.

So, as you can tell, I seem to be on a bit of a Jo Walton kick.
Also, this book was advertised as Anthony Trollope, with Dragons! How could one say no to that?
I have to admit, I was impressed. To be fair, I picked this up knowing that the options were "really good" or "really bad" and, fortunately, Walton did a good job. She obviously has a nice feel for the structure of the Victorian Novel, not to mention the necessary cultural absurdities that have become necessary biological absurdities in this story.
And, of course, the characters were nice renderings of the archetypes in the Victorian novel.
A very good story, and one I would recommend.
That being said, it was not quite as excellent as her Small Change trilogy. I don't know what it was, perhaps the difference between a very well crafted story and a truly inspired work of fiction. I'm not sure. The first two thirds or so dragged slightly, but the story picked up nicely in the last third. (And I suppose Victorian Novels always drag).
Still, a very good read and one that I can't pinpoint any flaws in, which is quite a nice recommendation

A nice conclusion to the story Fisher began in Incarceron. Very creative and fascinating, if a bit slow at the beginning. As in the previous book, the most fascinating part is in the effort Fisher puts into her world building. The main characters in particular pale slightly in comparison to the rich world they live in. The side characters, however, are excellent.
And the story came together wonderfully in the end, I really enjoyed it.

Very good beginning of a series, but as a stand-alone book, it felt incomplete. I'm really looking forward to the next book, though.

I really enjoyed this book. It's not a startlingly different tale, though it tells the story of fae abduction well and, more importantly to me, without resorting to stupidity on the part of the heroine. Of course, this is a version of Beauty and the Beast (as most stories are), and that's one of my favorite stories, but The Hollow Kingdom is a truly enjoyable story.
Part of what made me enjoy this story so much was how strong and brave and utterly sensible the main character was. I really appreciated seeing a heroine who was strong in a feminine way without being stupid. I really liked her and her romance was entirely believable.
All in all, a great offering and I'm looking forward to the next book in the series.

Definitely a good, solid story, though I found the first book to be a much more engaging novel and was a bit disappointed in this one. It was a letdown, after the fantasticness of the first.