Sparrow Falling by Gaie Sebold
Sep. 23rd, 2016 12:20 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
Back to school.
Eveline Sparrow hopes to put her past experiences as a thief and con-artist to more legitimate use; which is why some of the girls at her Sparrow School receive private lessons in burglary, fakery, and other such underhand practices.
But it’s hard to get honest work when few businesses will employ young ladies in the security professions. The duns are at the doorstep, her friend Liu the half-fox-spirit is in some sort of trouble, and the rivalries of the Folk are in danger of overspilling into the mundane world, forcing the Empire into a bloody, horrifying war.
Can Eveline pull things out of the mire this time, or will the Sparrow’s wings be clipped once and for all?
It’s some time after SHANGHAI SPARROW. Eveline Sparrow has set up a school taking in both paying pupils from respectable and less-advantaged families (the latter of whom are secretly taught a more illegal skillset). Unfortunately there aren’t enough paying pupils and Evie has run out of the money she took away from SHANGHAI SPARROW. Unwilling to call on Liu (who has, in any event, been called back to the Folk for reasons he’s keeping to himself) and with the bills mounting up, she plans to offer security services to businesses but Victorian society is unreceptive to the notion of women in commerce. Enter Mr Josh Stug: a prosperous landlord with secrets that could be leveraged to make him amenable to giving Evie’s service a try.
But Stug is hiding secrets that even Evie hasn’t planned for. Soon she finds herself drawn back into the machinations of the Folk, which could spark war between Britain and Russia. Evie has to conjure a plan to get her out of the mess she finds herself in and bring in enough money to keep her school from going under and that’s a tall order – even for someone as resourceful as Evie …
Gaie Sebold’s steampunk sequel to SHANGHAI SPARROW achieves the rare feat of being better than its predecessor. The relationship between the characters really works well in this book – the tension between Ma Pether and Madelaine over how Evie should behave feels true and shows the contradictions within Evie’s own character. Also good is the slow burning romance between Evie and Liu that’s equal parts bickering, affection and secrets with each truly trying to protect the other and yet not quite able to comprehend their respective worlds. Liu’s foray back to the world of the Folk to try and save his father expands the fairy world and develops Liu’s character (his scenes with his father are particularly good) while also tying back into the main plot line. Stug is a complicated character – evil but not entirely unsympathetic – and he is an interesting foe for Evie given his own cunning and cruelty. Sebold’s use of Victorian slang lends the book an authentic field, as does her skilful way of recreating the grim reality of poverty and what it drove people to. The book ends with a cliff hanger that really makes me want to get my hands on the next book.
The Verdict:
Gaie Sebold’s steampunk sequel to SHANGHAI SPARROW achieves the rare feat of being better than its predecessor. The relationship between the characters really works well in this book – the tension between Ma Pether and Madelaine over how Evie should behave feels true and shows the contradictions within Evie’s own character. Also good is the slow burning romance between Evie and Liu that’s equal parts bickering, affection and secrets with each truly trying to protect the other and yet not quite able to comprehend their respective worlds. Liu’s foray back to the world of the Folk to try and save his father expands the fairy world and develops Liu’s character (his scenes with his father are particularly good) while also tying back into the main plot line. Stug is a complicated character – evil but not entirely unsympathetic – and he is an interesting foe for Evie given his own cunning and cruelty. Sebold’s use of Victorian slang lends the book an authentic field, as does her skilful way of recreating the grim reality of poverty and what it drove people to. The book ends with a cliff hanger that really makes me want to get my hands on the next book.
Eveline Sparrow hopes to put her past experiences as a thief and con-artist to more legitimate use; which is why some of the girls at her Sparrow School receive private lessons in burglary, fakery, and other such underhand practices.
But it’s hard to get honest work when few businesses will employ young ladies in the security professions. The duns are at the doorstep, her friend Liu the half-fox-spirit is in some sort of trouble, and the rivalries of the Folk are in danger of overspilling into the mundane world, forcing the Empire into a bloody, horrifying war.
Can Eveline pull things out of the mire this time, or will the Sparrow’s wings be clipped once and for all?
It’s some time after SHANGHAI SPARROW. Eveline Sparrow has set up a school taking in both paying pupils from respectable and less-advantaged families (the latter of whom are secretly taught a more illegal skillset). Unfortunately there aren’t enough paying pupils and Evie has run out of the money she took away from SHANGHAI SPARROW. Unwilling to call on Liu (who has, in any event, been called back to the Folk for reasons he’s keeping to himself) and with the bills mounting up, she plans to offer security services to businesses but Victorian society is unreceptive to the notion of women in commerce. Enter Mr Josh Stug: a prosperous landlord with secrets that could be leveraged to make him amenable to giving Evie’s service a try.
But Stug is hiding secrets that even Evie hasn’t planned for. Soon she finds herself drawn back into the machinations of the Folk, which could spark war between Britain and Russia. Evie has to conjure a plan to get her out of the mess she finds herself in and bring in enough money to keep her school from going under and that’s a tall order – even for someone as resourceful as Evie …
Gaie Sebold’s steampunk sequel to SHANGHAI SPARROW achieves the rare feat of being better than its predecessor. The relationship between the characters really works well in this book – the tension between Ma Pether and Madelaine over how Evie should behave feels true and shows the contradictions within Evie’s own character. Also good is the slow burning romance between Evie and Liu that’s equal parts bickering, affection and secrets with each truly trying to protect the other and yet not quite able to comprehend their respective worlds. Liu’s foray back to the world of the Folk to try and save his father expands the fairy world and develops Liu’s character (his scenes with his father are particularly good) while also tying back into the main plot line. Stug is a complicated character – evil but not entirely unsympathetic – and he is an interesting foe for Evie given his own cunning and cruelty. Sebold’s use of Victorian slang lends the book an authentic field, as does her skilful way of recreating the grim reality of poverty and what it drove people to. The book ends with a cliff hanger that really makes me want to get my hands on the next book.
The Verdict:
Gaie Sebold’s steampunk sequel to SHANGHAI SPARROW achieves the rare feat of being better than its predecessor. The relationship between the characters really works well in this book – the tension between Ma Pether and Madelaine over how Evie should behave feels true and shows the contradictions within Evie’s own character. Also good is the slow burning romance between Evie and Liu that’s equal parts bickering, affection and secrets with each truly trying to protect the other and yet not quite able to comprehend their respective worlds. Liu’s foray back to the world of the Folk to try and save his father expands the fairy world and develops Liu’s character (his scenes with his father are particularly good) while also tying back into the main plot line. Stug is a complicated character – evil but not entirely unsympathetic – and he is an interesting foe for Evie given his own cunning and cruelty. Sebold’s use of Victorian slang lends the book an authentic field, as does her skilful way of recreating the grim reality of poverty and what it drove people to. The book ends with a cliff hanger that really makes me want to get my hands on the next book.
