Finkel, with informed interest, tells us the story of Breitwieser’s two obsessions: Anne-Catherine and art. Stéphane Breitwieser is a magician, performing sleight of hand with ginormous paintings and centuries old sculptures of Europe’s finest art galleries beneath the blind eye of faulty security systems.

I enjoy an art gallery and have been to many around the world, which leaves me even more baffled as to how Breitwieser got away with stealing artwork with security guards still in the room—and then I listed to the afterword in the book…

Concise, as fast-paced and slick as the art thief himself, the writer of this investigative report has brought us into the art-gallery attic of the world’s greatest art thief.

While these are fun, informative mysteries, Goldberg has basically just rewritten Conan Doyle and changed names, genders, and moved along a little in the historical timeline. The backdrop of the First World War makes for an interesting setting, though. 

 

Anyways, I like em. I’ll keep reading. 

Giving House on the Cerulean Sea vibes with cute mischievous kids and soul-lost adults who have all found home in one another. 

 

An adult novel that reads young and vulnerable, set in a modern Western multiethnic English landscape sparkling with secret magic, with a main character who is quite well adjusted, but carries the open hurts of a neglected childhood. Written in an easy reading style that focuses on telling its love story more than the words used to tell it, the story is about a predictable romance, but it’s fun to watch the attraction ignite, and see all the love grow among this cast of diverse characters. 

 

A bright and warm story, told in overly cussy language (and a bit of cringy-steam in one scene) and the straightforward dialogue of a generation unhindered by social niceties. Or too many poetic adjectives. 

 

A good bit of fun with magic-wielding children, a haters-to-lovers romance, some found family, and a predictable outcome—but overall good fun. 

I really liked the story, setting, and characters, even if the start took a bit of time to get off the ground. The setting isn’t unique, but Clare uses it to the advantage of her story, allows several rippling romances to build tension under the surface, and while she often describes just a bit too much about what people are wearing, the food they’re eating and the tables they eat at in the decorative rooms where they live—once the story hits 20% it moves, builds intrigue, casts an intricate web, and is a sprawling complex plot of twisted politics (which I love) and forbidden relationships. If you've read Clare, you know you're going to hear about all her characters' gold cufflinks and diamond brocades, a-line frocks, silks and satins, and even the colour of their lace knickers—it's her thing. Love it or hate it, if you are reading Clare, you're getting over-the-top non-Dickensian descriptions. I happen not to mind it, not that I think it adds anything to the story. 

 

I thoroughly enjoyed this cast of confused and conflicted characters, the cheeky banter, and the fantastical setting. 

 

Then I read what some others had to say…and it’s not often I respond to the nay-sayers, but it felt as though some have missed the point of fiction. Fiction, while it may add to highlighting real social issues, is not designed to solve world problems. Fiction, while it may reflect some realities and even sharply represent historical or current situations, is not meant to paint a non-fiction realistic picture of anything. When we read fiction, we may make connections, we may make inferences, but all of these are subjective and literary because fiction is still fiction and is never a manifesto or a declaration, even when it is used as a veil for these things. Even if she meant it to draw my attention to historical world events, I can still enjoy a fictional reading of a fictional fantasy story in a fictional world and take it all as fiction. 

 

And this was good fun fantasy fiction. 

 

I don’t think the author is trying to hide that she is painting a fantasy world based on the historical backdrop of the 1st-2nd Century BC; some of her characters are even closely named for historical people (Judas /Judah Maccabeus, Hadasa the Jewish Queen of Persian peoples, Marcus Aurelius…)— and though the stories are all fantasy, threaded through with magic and mysticism, the ties to real events (read The Apocrypha ‘hidden readings’ and some of The Pseudepigrapha ‘false writings’ of 1st & 2nd Century BC Jewish tradition) are potent. We can call this Historical Fantasy, but I wouldn’t call it plagiarism. I’ve recently read one of VE Schwab’s ‘alternate London’ series, and while there are minor insignificant similarities, these stories are nothing alike in their unfolding. I often see similarities in many stories that happened to be written at the same time, or are of the same genre, and maybe there’s a story-writing vibe that traverses the planet every few years or so, but that doesn’t make it plagiarism either. I don’t know what people are on about… 

Deliberately telling your reader stuff that is ambiguous and vague isn’t the same as building real suspense or being intentionally misleading. There is a lot of ambiguity and vague storytelling here, using personal pronouns rather than characters’ names. In the audiobook, one character had a Scottish accent that was dropped by the narrator when identity was meant to be concealed, but then was picked up again when it was revealed. That just caused confusion rather than add to the mystery. Even still, this crazy twisted plot must have been a difficult one to write, so kudos for that. It was a fast and easy read, a Wednesday evening episode of a cosy murder mystery, contained and satisfying.

Damn. And Amen. 

This is a red flag, a 1984-style sharp and poignant satire of an American penal system and entertainment industry and inequitable society all in dire need of revolutionary reformation.

As far as new literature goes, this is American satire at its best. And its message is ugly and horrific and so so uncompromisingly necessary.

…now, if only the message could stop falling on the deaf ears of a desensitised consumerist society sick with the addiction of ethnocentric capitalism…

****

I feel like they should make a movie of it; but then I feel like they should never make a movie of this as it would feed into the very thing it has set out to confront…

This starts off a bit weird. You get the hang of the hidden magic lurking behind mirrors and in the pages of books before too long.

The geographical scope of the novel is vast, and the characters are a mix-match of exciting, secretive, annoying and marvellous. As the story comes together, which takes some time, it becomes increasingly fascinating—especially after the introduction of Nicholas and Cecily. Well, mostly Nicholas and his trusty sidekick, Collins. They are awkward fun. The links between real historical social issues and the effects on modern society are clever, keep you guessing.

The story is worthwhile, but some of the characters’ justifications for past actions are weak and inexcusable, and many of the relationships throughout are odd, strained without reason or legitimate explanation—other than big reveal bits along the way.

I'm not totally satisfied with the resolution, though it does a lot to tie up loose ends. Overall, it is a unique topic with lots to catch my interest along the way.

Threads indeed!! and weaving all throughout a complex story of beauty and peril among characters void of or teeming with magic, set against and tied inexorably to one another, with the essential life and magic of the world(s) dancing on their fingertips, teetering on the balance of their decisions. Mysterious, enthralling, adventurous, and exhilarating. 

Smart enough to keep me turning back to review what had happened and guessing wrongly at what might happen next. And even the cheekiest reader will be charmed by the ripostes amid sparks of romance. Who doesn’t love a witty bit of banter?

I have a soft spot for pirates, and some of these ones are augmented by powerful magic as they navigate a world of islands in broad seas and floating markets and a shifting landscape of multiple Londons of varying degrees of magic and misery and misplaced monarchs.

Ends on a satisfactory unveiling, just enough to sit right with ahhs and ahas, but doesn’t leave you dangling off a cliff by a finger. Still, can’t wait for the next part of the story. There’s a lot of coming together I’m left curious over.

Stunning storytelling.

*I’ve learned this is a continuation of the ‘Shades of Magic’ series, which I’ve never read. I didn’t find it necessary to have already lived in this world as the story and characters were fresh and new here with sufficient storytelling to give me a clear and enticing picture. However, now that I’ve been introduced, I’ll go back and read the others while I await the next…

My goodness, I was so distracted by the kidnapping of a beloved character I don’t even know what happened to the diamonds and the murderers….

Anyways, of course we are following a consistent (predictable) pattern here now: theft/murder, Genius Joanna comes on the scene with her not-as-smart reporter husband, solves the mystery with the help of the borrowed nose-hound, Toby Two; at some point they have to sign the secrets act again, of course; then the street urchins ‘The Irregulars’ get involved near the end with their street-wise sneaky investigative prowess; and all their lives are placed in great danger—all before Joanna saves the day, and England, and in this case, all of Europe, and practically stops WWI single-handedly…

Okay, not quite. But you get the idea.

It’s good fun, though. Always a good mystery, even if these are becoming a bit repetitive in the plot ploys these last few installations. Not as much medical lingo or pathology involved this time, to my slight disappointment.

A poignant little heartbreaking coming-of-age picture novel full of morbid humour and riveting artwork.

For middle-aged philosophisers and long-life senior citizens.