The Glass Books of the Dreameaters - G.W. Dahlquist

Miss Temple is just a high-class woman making her way in Victorian-era London, but when her fiancee Roger suddenly severs their engagement, she takes it upon herself to find out exactly why. The story starts off a little slow, but soon it turns into a complex and thrilling plot which is full of intrigue, and all of it links back to Roger and the mysterious glass books in the title.

Phew! What a read! The book lasts for a marathon-like 800(ish) pages, switching between the viewpoints of our three protagonists; Miss Temple, Dr Svenson (a German officer initially trying to keep a wayward Prince out of trouble) and Cardinal Chang (a mercenary hired to kill an influential man, only to find him already dead). These three unsuspecting heroes eventually team up and together take a stand against the group whose sinister 'process' seems to have stolen people's souls, including Roger's.

As you can already fathom, there are a lot of characters to get your head around in this book. Not only are you trying to piece together which members of the Cabal are really in charge, but which ones the protagonists have each encountered and who has allegiances to whom. The result is that it takes a long time to fully grasp what on earth is happening and it can create confusion when names or situations are mentioned but you cannot place them.

The idea of inadvertent heroes facing off against an evil group isn't all that new. In fact, the general story is quite reminiscent of Nick Harkaway's Angelmaker, yet another steampunk novel, but the complexity of the plot and the idea of the indigo clay and its' properties were  impressive. A few questions remain as to how the glass and the alchemical equipment works during the processes and how the clay is made into glass and gas. Maybe the next two books will offer better explanations and descriptions of both of these aspects.

As for the characters, they are extremely well drawn; each of the cabal members have their own reasons for acting as they do and how they choose their alliances. Even some characters that seem harmless throughout have secret agendas. Out heroes also each have interesting back-stories, some more in depth than others, and they go through differing character arcs. Miss Temple, being someone who is not used to action or adventure, let alone wielding weapons against strong enemies, goes through the biggest transformation and yet somehow retains the sense of self that we see in the first chapter.

The writing style is very like most Victorian books, where every element of what happens is described in detail and the plot moves slowly and steadily. Some of you may find this a bit demanding and even slightly dull. I felt I needed events to move more quickly to keep my attention up.

Expect a lot of action, and lot of things going on at the same time and a fair amount of confusion in places. Also, as a disclaimer, this book is also quite provocative and some may feel uncomfortable reading those parts in public. All in all, the book is a good one, a long adventure and an excellent idea, though you may find yourself drifting off if you are reading to late at night. Despite the fact that the book could have done with some editing, I am looking forward to reading the next two books in the series (pictured below).

7 out of 10.

Image from gaskella.wordpress

This book is available as a serial on your kindle, but I would recommend buying the whole book as you can then flick through to parts you can't recall properly. It is a little bit daunting, but it is much easier to keep the plot in your mind this way.

Thank you to Penguin for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

The Language of Flowers - Vanessa Diffenbaugh

Victoria is an 18 year-old orphan, who is now homeless. But there is one thing that may save her; the language of flowers.

As we read through the book we discover there is more to her than we first thought. There is a bitter, hidden past that seethes underneath the narrative. there are some good memories too, but all of this has an undercurrent of guilt mingled with longing.

The book is written very well, with a lot of emotion being displayed as well as an interesting fascination with flowers and their meanings. The content makes the reader want to learn more about the main character and her past and she is so multi layered we wonder where her emotions come from. In fact, all of the characters are quite complex and realistic, making the reader feel like they know them personally.

One of the things that could be improved on is the ending. Although it is realistic enough, it comes as a slight shock. As it is written in the first person, the reader gains a good insight into the mind of the character. However, the change in her mind that we see seems rather abrupt compared to the thoughts we are privy to throughout.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the story is the context concerning the language of flowers. In the Victorian period, couples forbidden to see each other or marry would often use bouquets to send messages. Each flower had a different meaning that the recipient would find out before sending a reply. For example, in the book Hazel means reconciliation and a yellow rose means infidelity.

The way that this idea is entwined into the life of an orphan girl is simple and well thought through. As a young girl she learns the language of flowers and then later uses it in floristry to develop a good business.

The main themes of the story seems to be the lack or abundance of love and emotion, and how it affects people's lives. The protagonist shows a need for love, and yet a hatred of others. We see why in the many flashbacks from her past.

There are claims that this author could be the next Joanne Harris (the author of Chocolat). This may be a little bit too much of a presumption as it needs a bit of work to get to that kind of standard. Joanne describes foods to the point of you salivating, therefore we as readers need to almost smell the roses, so to speak. Unfortunately the authors style is in need of a bit of a fine tune, and as previously stated, the ending needs a bit of work as it didn't quite flow with the rest of the book.

Maybe with a bit of work, Vanessa Diffenbaugh could be capable of some very poignant literary works. As for now, The Language of Flowers gets an 8 out of 10.



For the Wikipedia page on the language of flowers, click this. For flowers and their meanings, click this.