the glass books of the dream eaters
Tuesday, 19 February 2008
Title :: The Glass Books of the Dream EatersAuthor :: G.W. Dahlquist
Completed :: Nov 05 2007
Rating :: 5/5
Wilkie Collins on acid... - New Statesman
Bodice-ripping... - Elle
Reading this book - and it is a page-turner - you become immersed, befogged, as if you had been looking at one of the glass books... a rollicking ride, as stupendous as it is stupefying... - The Guardian
Wow! The first chapter is a beautifully designed trap - so beware you are likely to get sucked in - an innocent maiden with a broken engagement spies on her ex-finace, ends up at masked party where she's thought to be a whore, forced to undress and wear inappropriate silk clothing, escapes, witnesses bizarre experiments, is caught, questioned, handed over to two brutes, she's taken away by carriage, man-handled and then gets Uma Thurman on their ass (a la Kill Bill). While she may not have had a beautifully handcrafted Hattori Hanzo katana sword, Miss Temple silenced her attacker with a very sharp wooden pencil! I loved it - whores, experiments, assassins, mysteries, scandal and dead bodies everywhere! When you've finished that first chapter I'm sure like me you'll be asking yourself "What the hell just happened?". Quite the perfect hook I'd say.
Right so we have 3 main goodies : Miss Temple, a 25 year old wealthy recently disengaged woman; Cardinal Chang, a hired hit-man called Cardinal for his red jacket and Chang for his squinty eyes caused by a disfiguring scar; and Dr. Svenson, a physician/court spy in charge of a philandering gambling drunk prince. Then of course there are the baddies - many of them in fact all acting as major secondary characters. I won't go into detail as to who they are as I wouldn't want to give too much away.
The intrigue starts when Miss Temple, the Cardinal and the Doctor attend the same strange masked ball unbeknownst to each other and two of them unbeknownst to the host. Miss Temple follows her ex-fiance in hopes of discovering why her engagement was broken off and ends up at a masked ball. It's not long before she learns that this masked ball is definitely not normal when she is invited behind the scenes and witnesses a very strange experiment. Cardinal Chang arrives at the ball following the trail of his quarry only to discover that someone had already disposed of him. Dr. Svenson's prince is to marry the daughter of an extremely wealthy man, the host of the ball, which is being held in celebration of the soon to be newleyweds - but Dr. Svenson loses track of his prince's wereabouts and ends up discovering a body on the lawn. From there Temple, Cardinal and Svenson flee the baddies and begin their escapades all while attempting to try to put the pieces of a puzzle together - a puzzle that appears to be without a solution.
Lots of scandal and intrigue and every page offers the reader a chance to collect information in an attempt to solve the mystery. There's quite a bit of detail and information to keep track of but I like that in a novel as it keeps you thinking. While sometimes it can be a bit too much this author provided the right amount. I quite liked this interesting unusual adventure - it was nice to read something different for a change. Apparently Mr. Dahlquist wrote the book in segments and it was originally published that way as a 10 volume serialized subscription. What an excellent way to read this book! But I think I would have been seriously impatient for the next volume. I can just imagine the reader would have been desperate to know what happens next. At least they would have had the time to go back and re-read previous volumes in an attempt to analyze what was going on. Reading it all in one go is fun too! There's a nice interview here that may be of interest also you may want to visit the book's website. You can even play an online adventure game as Miss Temple or Cardinal Chang. You know if done well and with the right people I'd kind of like to see this made into a movie - it would be very curious. I want to read it again! Seriously need my own copy of this book! If you've read this book I'd like to know what you thought of it.
Labels: book review
posted by Ashleigh @ 19:11,
