Published by: Angry Robot, June 2nd 2015
Genre: Adult, Fantasy, Historical
Pages: 194
Format: Ebook
Source: Angry Robot, via Netgalley
1888. A little girl called Mirror and her shape-shifting guardian Goliath Honeyflower are washed up on the shores of Victorian England. Something has been wrong with Mirror since the day her grandfather locked her inside a mysterious clock that was painted all over with ladybirds. Mirror does not know what she is, but she knows she is no longer human.
John Loveheart, meanwhile, was not born wicked. But after the sinister death of his parents, he was taken by Mr Fingers, the demon lord of the underworld. Some say he is mad. John would be inclined to agree.
Now Mr Fingers is determined to find the little girl called Mirror, whose flesh he intends to eat, and whose soul is the key to his eternal reign. And John Loveheart has been called by his otherworldly father to help him track Mirror down…
I enjoyed this book, but not as much as I thought I would have from reading the first chapter. The title set me up for a book 100% about Mirror and Goliath, and while it is, it's all in a very roundabout way. Example: the policement main characters are investigating a girl who was killed by the man who made the clock that Mirror's grandfather stuffed her into. The story this book told wasn't the story that the title made me expect, but it was still very, peculiarly good.
I loved the parts about Mirror and Goliath the most. Mirror's sharp, inquisitive manner and Goliath's big-bear safety made them a truly unique pair. I didn't enjoy the parts that involved other characters as much as I enjoyed M&G's chapters - this would 100% have been a 5 star rating if it'd been all those two. There's something purely interesting about them. I want to know everything about their lives, their whole stories with nothing left out.
There were a lot of things I loved about this book. I've already touched on my two favourite characters. The setting is the Victorian Era brought to life with wonderful words and lyrical similies. I highlighted huge swaths of text on my kindle - it's that good, entirely, exquisitely quotable. The story is dark and twisty and exciting, too. But I just didn't connect with a good portion of the characters, and at some parts I was reading and thought 'why are we hearing about this person? can we go back to the main story now?'. The similies, while lovely and evocative, got a little too repetitive after a while. Everything was fairy tale, or from a fairy tale, or reminiscent of a fairy tale character. This was more than likley intentional on the part of the author but it got a bit tedious towards the end. Still would 100% recommend, though.
A solid, original fantasy with writing that overflows with imagination and magic.
Characters ★★★☆☆
Setting/world-building ★★★☆☆
Writing ★★★★☆
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