quippe | Entries tagged with libba bray

The Blurb On The Back:

Flappers and follies.
Murder and mystery.
Jazz and gin.

Evie O’Neill has been exiled from her boring old hometown. Shipped off to the neon-drenched streets of New York City, Evie thinks it’ll be the perfect place to show just how daring and modern she truly is.

An aspiring poet, Memphis has a true talent with words. But that’s not the only place his talent lies. He can do things no one else can. Things that are making the city – from uptown Harlem to the downtown clubs – an increasingly dangerously place for him to be.

Queen of the flapper, jazziest of all the babies, Theta couldn’t be happier with her new best friend on one arm and her new best guy n the other. But now something is coming for them all.

Deep in the underbelly of the city, something is moving in the shadows. Naughty John has come home. And he has work to do.

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

Libba Bray’s novel, the first in a YA historical fantasy trilogy, is an epic story with an almost pitch-perfect period feel and some genuinely chilling moments. However the large cast makes for a lot of build-up and world building, which in turn slows the plot and results in a rushed ending that didn’t quite satisfy but gives a great set-up for the remaining books and I will definitely be reading on.

Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the free copy of this book.

The Blurb On The Back:

It's 1895 and, after the death of her mother, 16-year-old Gemma Doyle is shipped off from the life she knows in India to Spence, a proper boarding school in England. Lonely, guilt-ridden, and prone to visions of the future that have an uncomfortable habit of coming true, Gemma finds her reception a chilly one. She's not completely alone, though ... she's being followed by a mysterious young man, sent to warn her to close her mind against the visions.

It's at Spence that Gemma's power to attract the supernatural unfolds, as she becomes entangled with the school's most powerful girls and discovers her mother's connection to a shadowy, timeless group called The Order. Her destiny awaits ... if only Gemma can believe in it.

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

An interesting read and one that sets up the potential for an intriguing trilogy. Although some of the language didn't quite feel right for the period, the descriptions are lush and evocative and Gemma a sufficiently complex heroine for me to want to read more of her adventures.