Overall Rating: 3.5 stars
Date Finished: January 3, 2017
I will admit to be rather skeptical coming into this book. Mostly because I have already read so many books that seem so similar. It's always in London and the main character is always strong and independent and there is of course some mystery or some issue to handle. And part of the problem is that when you have read one that is very well done, all the other kind of pale in comparison. It's not easy to make a great character and to make her seem real.
And that is one of the things Deanna Raybourn did very well.
Part of the problem is that the rest of the book didn't quite meet up to the level of the characters. The plot is average and predictable. The mystery wasn't much of a surprise in the end. And while there was indeed danger, it never felt immediate. If that had been all that there was in this book it would been forgettable at the best.
What really saved this book was the character. I thoroughly enjoyed Veronica and her open commentary. She is intelligent, witty and unabashedly straightforward. And while much of that does resemble other books you may have read, Veronica is a bit unique. She is very scientific and rarely ever unsettled, but more than that she is an explorer and a lepidopterist (someone who studies butterflies, and don't worry, I had no clue either)
Stoker was a bit of a character himself and there is a lot of mystery to his past that I'm sure will come up often. The one thing that I will say is that I'm getting tired of every Victorian novel I read bringing in the Stokers in some way. So when I first heard the name Stoker I was a bit disappointed. Granted, the characters real name is different but there were hints about violence in his family background and I am just waiting for the next book when he will most assuredly reveal that his family are vampire hunters or something else to that effect. Let's hope she can spin this in an original way at least.
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