BOOK BLURB:
It's the beginning of the 20th century; the age of scientific progress. But for Venice the future looks bleak. A conference of scientists assembles to address the problems, among whose delegates are the parents of twelve-year-old Teodora. Within days of her arrival, she is subsumed into the secret life of Venice: a world in which salty-tongued mermaids run subversive printing presses, ghosts good and bad patrol the streets and librarians turn fluidly into cats. A battle against forces determined to destroy the city once and for all quickly ensues. Only Teo, the undrowned child who survived a tragic accident as a baby, can go 'between the linings' to subvert evil and restore order.
REVIEW:
If I was asked to sum up this novel in a short sentence it would be: “Perhaps the quirkiest young adult novel I’ve ever read.” That is by no means a bad thing. The sheer attention to detail is mind boggling and when you add to the bowl the urban fantasy elements and its something that you’re either going to love or hate. What did keep getting me was the timeline of the tale, I’d personally have preferred it had it been a modern telling rather than the setting of the past. Purely as I think that the protagonista speaks more to modern sensibilities over that of the time to which she inhabits.
Personally I had a lot of fun with this novel but I get the feeling that its going to be one that either you love or hate. I’ll definitely be watching out for more from Michelle in the future.
No comments:
Post a Comment