Hello everyone! This week's Friday Reads are quite delayed and my reviewing and my blogging have been a bit sparse, but I was on vacation with the boyfriend and we had some very well deserved and needed "us time" so everything else took a back seat.
Now back to routine and with the challenge of NetGalley November to complete this month I will be focusing mostly exclusively in all the review copies I have pending and hopefully I'll manage to tackle that pile and make it less daunting!
Starting back up, today's first review is for the second book of the Baskerville Affair series.
A Study in Darkness by Emma Jane Holloway
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This series is becoming a serious favourite of mine. With the mish mash of steampunk, magic, historical fiction, adventure, romance and political intrigue that they manage to make work fantastically, it's always a treat!
A Study in Darkness is book 2 in the series and it is a strong sequel to the first book. I will try my best to make avoid spoilers for this book but be warned, there might be some spoilers for book 1 in this review.
Evelina was left heartbroken and in a difficult position by the end of book 1, and in this one she ends up getting herself into even more trouble, but being the strong woman that she is, she takes responsability from her actions and beyond and faces the consequences making a few agreements to make sure she can keep those she love out of trouble. She finds herself moving from the comforts of the higher society to the less comfortable but also less restrictive poorer and darker side of this Steampunk London. She will have to play spy, keep herself out of danger and try to learn as much about her magic as possible.
The focus of this book is more on the magic and the political elements and less in the investigating of crimes that was the being theme on book 1. Here the political conspiracy takes a bigger role and we discover a bit more about the Baskerville Affair and how they are trying to fight the Steam Barons. The Steam Barons in turn have their focus divided in two: fighting between themselves to try and get rid of the others and get control of all of London and the Empire and also trying to present an united from against the conspirators of the Baskerville Affair. Evelina finds herself in the middle of the struggle as are also her two uncles, Sherlock & Mycroft, though each of them for different reasons.
There's plenty of intrigue and action to keep you glued to the pages, with quite a few twists and turns along the way. With a pinch of romance to keep everything interesting and to give poor Evelina a respite of all the bleak perspectives that she is drowing in. The love triangle is thankfully resolved, and even I wasn't sure I had a favourite before, I think I'm pretty happy with how it all was done.
If all of this wasn't enough, the author has managed to seamlessly thread into the story the crimes of Jack the Reaper, and how it all was tied with the story was just great. Who was behind the crimes and the motivations... very well done, and soooo creepy!
The book ends with loads of action, Evelina finding herself once again in a position where she has to sacrifice her freedom for the sake of others and with a jaw dropping cliffhanger that I would have never expected!
Very well deserved 4 stars for this one!
View all my reviews
Now back to routine and with the challenge of NetGalley November to complete this month I will be focusing mostly exclusively in all the review copies I have pending and hopefully I'll manage to tackle that pile and make it less daunting!
Starting back up, today's first review is for the second book of the Baskerville Affair series.
A Study in Darkness by Emma Jane HollowayMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
This series is becoming a serious favourite of mine. With the mish mash of steampunk, magic, historical fiction, adventure, romance and political intrigue that they manage to make work fantastically, it's always a treat!
A Study in Darkness is book 2 in the series and it is a strong sequel to the first book. I will try my best to make avoid spoilers for this book but be warned, there might be some spoilers for book 1 in this review.
Evelina was left heartbroken and in a difficult position by the end of book 1, and in this one she ends up getting herself into even more trouble, but being the strong woman that she is, she takes responsability from her actions and beyond and faces the consequences making a few agreements to make sure she can keep those she love out of trouble. She finds herself moving from the comforts of the higher society to the less comfortable but also less restrictive poorer and darker side of this Steampunk London. She will have to play spy, keep herself out of danger and try to learn as much about her magic as possible.
The focus of this book is more on the magic and the political elements and less in the investigating of crimes that was the being theme on book 1. Here the political conspiracy takes a bigger role and we discover a bit more about the Baskerville Affair and how they are trying to fight the Steam Barons. The Steam Barons in turn have their focus divided in two: fighting between themselves to try and get rid of the others and get control of all of London and the Empire and also trying to present an united from against the conspirators of the Baskerville Affair. Evelina finds herself in the middle of the struggle as are also her two uncles, Sherlock & Mycroft, though each of them for different reasons.
There's plenty of intrigue and action to keep you glued to the pages, with quite a few twists and turns along the way. With a pinch of romance to keep everything interesting and to give poor Evelina a respite of all the bleak perspectives that she is drowing in. The love triangle is thankfully resolved, and even I wasn't sure I had a favourite before, I think I'm pretty happy with how it all was done.
If all of this wasn't enough, the author has managed to seamlessly thread into the story the crimes of Jack the Reaper, and how it all was tied with the story was just great. Who was behind the crimes and the motivations... very well done, and soooo creepy!
The book ends with loads of action, Evelina finding herself once again in a position where she has to sacrifice her freedom for the sake of others and with a jaw dropping cliffhanger that I would have never expected!
Very well deserved 4 stars for this one!
View all my reviews
WOW this series looks like a must read why haven't I picked it up yet!?
ReplyDeleteI was lucky to stumble upon it on NetGalley, it is a great series and more people need to know about it! I hope you give it a chance, Katie!
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