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Crilley, Paul
4 Reviews
(4)
YA
The crisp dialogue between Tweed and Nightingale (The Lazarus Machine), romantically entangled teenage secret Ministry agents, is this second volume's stand-out feature. A tangled mystery springing from Nikola Tesla's murder is set in a steampunk world filled with airships, deathrays, an unknown race dwelling below the earth, and plenty of action, albeit of the interesting rather than plausible sort.
Reviewer: Megan Lynn Isaac
(4)
YA
Sebastian Tweed and Octavia Nightingale team up to stage a rescue for their kidnapped parents. Literary allusions and steampunk paraphernalia set the tone in an alternate late-nineteenth-century London, where their sleuthing soon demands chase scenes, disguises, and dangerous incursions. Although lively and peppered with witty dialogue, the novel suffers from a predictable and half-completed conclusion that begs a sequel.
Reviewer: Megan Lynn Isaac
(4)
4-6
Invisible Order series.
In this Rise of the Darklings sequel, Emily and her friends are transported back to 1666 London. Hoping to prevent the Great Fire--as well as the looming conflagration between fey and humans--Emily allies herself with key historical figures who are members of the Invisible Order. At times the plot threads are too complicated with details, stalling momentum.
Reviewer: Ashleigh Finn
(3)
4-6
Invisible Order series.
After discovering she has "seer abilities," Emily gets tangled in a world of fairies and humans fighting to become masters of London. Although a tad slow at the outset, the book quickly takes off, gathering steam and momentum by pitting Emily and her motley group of friends against the factions of the fey world and the men who form the Invisible Order.
Reviewer: Ashleigh Finn
4 reviews
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