taken from Goodreads:
"In this enchanting debut novel, Galen Beckett weaves a dazzling spell
of adventure and suspense, evoking a world of high magick and genteel
society; a world where one young woman discovers that her modest life
is far more extraordinary than she ever imagined.
Of the three Lockwell sisters: romantic Lily, prophetic Rose, and
studious Ivy; all agree that it's the eldest, the book-loving Ivy, who
has held the family together ever since their father's retreat into his
silent vigil in the library upstairs. Everyone blames Mr. Lockwell's
malady on his magickal studies, but Ivy alone still believes; both in
magic and in its power to bring her father back.
But there are others in the world who believe in magick
as well. Over the years, Ivy has glimpsed them; the strangers in black
topcoats and hats who appear at the door, strangers of whom their
mother will never speak. Ivy once thought them secret benefactors, but
now she's not so certain.
After tragedy strikes, Ivy takes a job with the reclusive Mr.
Quent in a desperate effort to preserve her family. It's only then that
she discovers the fate she shares with a jaded young nobleman named
Dashton Rafferdy, his ambitious friend Eldyn Garritt, and a secret
society of highwaymen, revolutionaries, illusionists, and spies who
populate the island nation of Altania.
For there is far more to Altania than meets the eye and more to
magick than mere fashion. And in the act of saving her father, Ivy will
determine whether the world faces a new dawn - or an everlasting night.
. . ."
It took me a bit to really get into this; parts of it moved very slowly. For the longest time, I really wasn't sure how all the different parts were going to come together, especially in time to end the novel. The ending was very anti-climactic; obviously the author had to draw things out in order to create a sequel (The House on Durrow Street), but in doing so, it meant that a lot of this novel was just staging for the events of the second one and thus nothing ever really happened. Then again, that seems quite in keeping with the novels that this book draws on for inspiration: Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice, and others of the same fashion. I truly enjoyed the heroine, and several of the other characters were enjoyable, if somewhat predictable or stereotypical. As for the structure of the novel, I thought that abruptly switching to a first-person / epistolary combination in the second section really threw things off (and there were such strong overtones of Wuthering Heights, The Turn of the Screw, and even Beauty and the Beast in this section that it was almost distracting).
That's the biggest downfall with this novel, I think -- that it draws too strongly on novels such as Pride & Prejudice, to the point that readers will likely spend their time matching up characters (Ivy is Elizabeth Bennett, Mr. Wyble is obviously Mr. Collins, Lady Marsdel....you get the point). What is so unfortunate about this is that it truly overshadows what is otherwise a promising book with some very interesting sections (Elden and Dercy and the illusionists, Ivy and her father's riddles -- not to mention her ancestry). I will likely read the sequel, as there have been many other novels that combine magic and manners that I've enjoyed. I'm sure the second novel will follow along in much the same way as this one -- as a novel that is neither good nor bad, just okay.
