Rigg's Cabinet of Curiosities

steampunk romp through an alternate Victorian London

Cogman has created a great adventure in a fabulous steampunk London with a vibrant heroine, Irene, and her distractingly handsome assistant, Kai.

She’s had great fun populating her London with delightfully fashioned baddies: mechanical centipedes,  robotically controlled alligators, a Fairy Ambassador of Liechtenstein, a ghoulishly fiendish villain, Alberich; and stolid Victorian allies including Inspector Singh and Mr Vale, the Earl of Leeds.  Her sheer exhilaration and imaginative force is a delight to read as these characters tumble across the pages.    Her overarching theme of an Invisible Library linking many alternate worlds adds to the pleasure and the possibilities for further stories.  She wraps it up nicely with a thrilling climax and, in doing so, lays down the springboard for the second in her series, The Masked City, which came out in the UK on 3rd December 2015.

a beguiling different story

Billed as a “Finnish feminist fantasy”, Maresi is a beguiling different story about a settlement on an island off an Northern continent.  Gathered here to worship the Maiden, the Mother and the Crone, the women are also come here to gain protection from the harsh, male dominated life on the mainland.   Written by Maresi,  “recording my memories so they are fresh and sharp in my mind”, the story starts slowly, describing daily life in the Red Abbey, and builds to a dramatic climax when outside forces threaten the Abbey and Maresi has to face her own personal fears.  A rich satisfying read.

fast paced adventure with thrilling darker undertones, lightened up by a grumpy dormouse.

In his first novel, Ralphs has created a feisty young witch, Hazel, and some entertaining side characters such as Titus White, the drunken Witch Finder, and Bramley, a dormouse familiar.  The plot starts relatively slow and gets faster and faster, with some excellent twists towards the end.   Ralphs conjures up some truly scary scenes including the Dreadful Remains and her Poppet – and frightening demons: Baal with his servant, Petrov; blind Rawhead who sniffs out magic; and Spindle, the giant spider.  The ending left me impatient to find out what happens next in the Fire Girl’s story.

My only very slight quibble is that the dormouse might mislead readers into thinking this was a cute story.  It really is not.  It gets increasingly dark as the story unfolds and there’s a delicious frisson of horror in the last scene.   I don’t want to lose the dormouse.  The partnership is great fun and very useful, I just would like Bramley and his relationship with Hazel to tie in more with the atmosphere of future books in the series.

… a mash up of wild west action and desert sands with Djinni magic.

I was given a review copy of this brilliant debut novel by my lovely bookshop, A Festival of Books, in Chipping Campden, as Emily and I share the passion for young adult fiction.

Fast paced, with a feisty female lead and an argumentative love interest, Rebel of the Sands certainly lives up to its hype.

It’s a mash up of wild west action and desert sands with powerful Djinni magic.  There are vibrant scenes: for example, the shooting gallery, the First Class train ride, the desert festival; well drawn supporting characters and a very fast pace all of which is gathered up into a satisfying finale.

I re-read certain scenes because they were so good and I wanted to savour the story – and the writing.  Definitely worth looking out for when it is published in February 2016.

“English magic faces its darkest hour”  

An enjoyable  romp with an engaging heroine, Prunella, coming to terms with the twin themes of magic and social manners.

I found the arch language a little difficult at times but, as the pace quickens, Cho gives some glorious scenes of mermaid and dragon familiars battling it out, a gentle love story and a couple of satisfying twists and reveals.

That magic has be to curtailed or diminished is a standard construct – or any difficulty could be very simply despatched  by a lead character; in Sorcerer to the Crown, it is done so by social convention (women aren’t allowed), an old ailment and sensibility (Zacharias) and a lack of magic coming from Fairy land.  All these reasons stand up well though perhaps are a trifle laboured for such a convention.

When Cho stops trying to explain and just has fun with her ideas, the plot speeds along with panache.  And, yes, I did stay up too late to finish it! There are delightful secondary characters: Damerell, Lady Wythe and Mak Genggang; and some well rounded walk-ons parts such as Mr Hsiang.

A very enjoyable novel with scope for sequels.

I am so pleased that one of my favourite authors has been short listed for the Costa Book Awards.   Here’s a short review I wrote for my lovely local bookshop’s window.  (A Festival of Books.  Yay!)   “… here in the drawing room, each lady quietly relaxed and became more real, expanding into the space left by the men. Without visibly changing, they unfolded, like flowers, or knives.” A superb Victorian fantasy thriller with a complex and feisty heroine fighting to find the truth behind her father’s murder. Frances Hardinge is a wonderful writer with brilliant original ideas and sparkling descriptions that linger long in the memory. Possible age range 11 – 13.