didn't know this book was one in a series until I logged it in here on my Goodreads list when I started to read it, perhaps I would have enjoyed it more had I known who most of the characters were and their history.
This story, overall, was just ok, In the beginning, I was terribly confused with all the different character perspectives and that's something I normally like in a good book, clean, seamless transitions from character to character.
But I don't feel it was well executed here as I found myself not knowing who was who for a good part of the beginning of the story,
What I found most challenging was just trying to figure out the connection between Bellpenny and Dvoshka if it was explained then I must have completely missed it because I STILL don't know!.
It had its moments where it grabbed your interest what with the grisly murders that occur which starts off this story, but I personally felt it was boring for the most part.
Apart from that, this book did definitely give me a Sherlock Holmesesque vibe due, of course, to the time period this takes place in, and how the way our main character would analyze and compute all the clues and the facts from each crime that occurs.
Honestly, most of
the action and drama took place towards the end as the mystery started to unravel and the pieces started coming together, but I felt it was very anticlimactic.
Some beautiful descriptions but often overly descriptive at the points where you want the story to get going, I admit to reading another book at the same time so perhaps my focus was lost but I spent a lot of time wondering what the point of it all was.
The eventual reason for all the murders doesn't really seem to tally up with the body count: was it greed and the desire for gold or was it the literary inspiration that the murderer read The plot didn't really hang together for me and I found myself skipping through the long descriptions towards the end.
Disappointing read. I remember liking it while I was reading it but obviously not super memorable because I don't remember much about it now, I liked the somewhat agoraphobic "detective" character, Another novel with a mysterious title don't really remember if I came to a decision about why it was called this, Certainly there are no actual labyrinths involved, This series is an absolute joy to read, I really liked this book, The characters are lovely, I like the odd names and it's absolutely enticed me to read more of them, I found this book quite disappointing, There was some interesting stuff and I found Stroop quite endearing, The rest of the characters though did not grip me at all An unusual and inventive historical thriller, with a touch of steampunk about the setting at the fictional Astonishment Hall.
A surprisingly high body count, and great characters but rather let down by the demise of the villain of the piece which I felt was a bit of an easy way out.
An astonishingly accomplished second novel, marking the arrival of an exciting new talent on the crime scene
Astonishment Hall, a country estate on the border between Durham and Cumbria, is full of weird and wonderful exhibitions.
It is truly a place of wonder, But when a valuable exhibit is stolen from the hall, it is only the first in a series of unpleasant and seemingly unconnected events, A bell tower is burnt to the ground, trapping a young boy inside, an outbreak of thefts plagues the valley, and a man is violently murdered and left to the crows and the snow.
When his own investigations come to a dead end, the owner of Astonishment Hall, the Major, sends to London for help, And so Whilbert Stroop journeys north to try and find the answers to both his own search for a missing glassworker, and the perplexing events at Astonishment Hall, Before long, Stroop finds himself embroiled in one man's terrifying and warped desire for vengeance against ancient wrongs, and another man's fight for survival, .