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ashurq's review against another edition
4.0
According to Goodreads, this book was first published in 2005, so I'm not really sure why it was on Netgalley with a more recent release date, but oh well. While I enjoyed this book quite a bit, it took me so long to read which made it a little less enjoyable. I think it was just written in such a way that made it hard to read quickly. The writing was great, but it didn't necessarily leave me eager to turn the page to see what happens next. Hardinge is an interesting author. I've read The Lie Tree by her, but wasn't very impressed. While it's obvious that a lot of thought goes into her books, I find that I'm mostly left feeling vaguely confused by things.
But getting into the book, the characters were great. I really liked Mosca as a protagonist. The reader roots for her even when she's making bad decisions. Even though she's kind of a prickly character, she's immensely likable as well. Saracen was probably my favorite animal sidekick of all time. He's completely selfish, but everything he does kind of ends up helping anyway. He was just a really funny character in my opinion. The rest of the characters were equally interesting and well-developed. The one thing that I absolutely loved about this book is that it's not clear until almost the very end who is "good" and who is "bad". At multiple points throughout the story anybody could be the bad guy.
The world that Hardinge has created is interesting, but not terribly well-developed. We spend most of the book in Mandelion, but I had not idea if it was the capital of this country or just a random city. It was not clear whether this city had any importance to the rest of the country and that (for some reason) made things a little confusing for me. The author has also created a really complicated political system and religion that doesn't get 100% explained. As both of these things play a large role in the overall plot, I was left confused multiple times trying to reread to see if I had missed an important detail.
Overall, I thought this book was enjoyable and I would recommend it for Middle Grade readers and up. Perhaps I just didn't have enough time to invest to understand the world and different structures within it but I do feel like younger me would have enjoyed it quite a bit. There is a sequel, Fly Trap, but I probably won't be reading it just because this first one was so difficult to get through.
Overall Rating: 4
Language: None
Violence: Moderate
Smoking/Drinking: Mild
Sexual Content: Mild
Note: I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
But getting into the book, the characters were great. I really liked Mosca as a protagonist. The reader roots for her even when she's making bad decisions. Even though she's kind of a prickly character, she's immensely likable as well. Saracen was probably my favorite animal sidekick of all time. He's completely selfish, but everything he does kind of ends up helping anyway. He was just a really funny character in my opinion. The rest of the characters were equally interesting and well-developed. The one thing that I absolutely loved about this book is that it's not clear until almost the very end who is "good" and who is "bad". At multiple points throughout the story anybody could be the bad guy.
The world that Hardinge has created is interesting, but not terribly well-developed. We spend most of the book in Mandelion, but I had not idea if it was the capital of this country or just a random city. It was not clear whether this city had any importance to the rest of the country and that (for some reason) made things a little confusing for me. The author has also created a really complicated political system and religion that doesn't get 100% explained. As both of these things play a large role in the overall plot, I was left confused multiple times trying to reread to see if I had missed an important detail.
Overall, I thought this book was enjoyable and I would recommend it for Middle Grade readers and up. Perhaps I just didn't have enough time to invest to understand the world and different structures within it but I do feel like younger me would have enjoyed it quite a bit. There is a sequel, Fly Trap, but I probably won't be reading it just because this first one was so difficult to get through.
Overall Rating: 4
Language: None
Violence: Moderate
Smoking/Drinking: Mild
Sexual Content: Mild
Note: I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
ofliterarynature's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
lindzlovesreading's review against another edition
4.0
Even though my dream is to have a book store that has absoutley no catagories just everything in alphabetical order. I spenind the bulk of my day catagorising books into different sections and genres. The thing I love about Hardinge is that, children's author because no one knows where else to put her. Hardinge does Hardinge and we just have to keep up. But I love the way she creates her worlds, it's a jumble of lies, rumours, mythology, which is why children are the perfect protaganist for these worlds and how they come to understand them.
I have really grown to love her writing. Especially here. The world of 18th Century London or Mandolin as it is in the book, is a magical place, even though I was half way through the book before I realised that there is no actual magic. Hardinge uses all the conventions of a fairy tale with a walled city and it's guilds and then slowly strips these away as Mosca Moye learns the reality of what is happening around her.
It was such as easy book to sink into, and I absoutetly adored how she recreated London with it's dirty streets, it's coffee houses, the radicalism and it's factions. It was wonderful.
I have really grown to love her writing. Especially here. The world of 18th Century London or Mandolin as it is in the book, is a magical place, even though I was half way through the book before I realised that there is no actual magic. Hardinge uses all the conventions of a fairy tale with a walled city and it's guilds and then slowly strips these away as Mosca Moye learns the reality of what is happening around her.
It was such as easy book to sink into, and I absoutetly adored how she recreated London with it's dirty streets, it's coffee houses, the radicalism and it's factions. It was wonderful.
scorpiobookfairy's review against another edition
I love this author, but this is the 5th time I've tried to read this and each time I'm bored to death and zoning out of the story. It's time to give up on this one... just not for me.
jrosenstein's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed this book. Mosca, the protagonist, is a fantastic little spitfire and her adventures are highly entertaining. I also liked that the plot seemed random and episodic for much of the book, but all came together at the end. The very end laid on the moral a bit too heavily, but Hardinge gets extra points for her deep love of books and this great line, "I don't want a happy ending, I want more story."
miles's review against another edition
funny
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
rkaufman13's review against another edition
5.0
Oh yes, this is good.
A "kid's" book, but a kid's book in the vein of Phillip Pullman, or Garth Nix even (who is quoted on the back of my edition as saying he's quite the fan of Hardinge). Heroine Mosca Mye drinks beer and smokes a pipe, not in some juvenile, Francesca Lia Block teenage rebellion way, but because this book is set very loosely in Ye Aulde 18th-Century England, and a 12-year-old girl probably would have drunk beer at that time. I love books that don't spare kids the realities of life.
The twisty plot doesn't quite manage J.K. Rowling-esque surprises (remember the first time you realized it was Quirrell all along?) but isn't completely predictable, either. Besides, you'll love Hardinge's wry turns of phrase and invented curses no matter what the plot is. ("I want my chirfuggin' goose back!")
Read it. Just read it.
A "kid's" book, but a kid's book in the vein of Phillip Pullman, or Garth Nix even (who is quoted on the back of my edition as saying he's quite the fan of Hardinge). Heroine Mosca Mye drinks beer and smokes a pipe, not in some juvenile, Francesca Lia Block teenage rebellion way, but because this book is set very loosely in Ye Aulde 18th-Century England, and a 12-year-old girl probably would have drunk beer at that time. I love books that don't spare kids the realities of life.
The twisty plot doesn't quite manage J.K. Rowling-esque surprises (remember the first time you realized it was Quirrell all along?) but isn't completely predictable, either. Besides, you'll love Hardinge's wry turns of phrase and invented curses no matter what the plot is. ("I want my chirfuggin' goose back!")
Read it. Just read it.
msliz's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.25
sashapasha's review against another edition
5.0
Fabulous characters, brilliant writing.
Some excellent things within:
* A warrior goose
* A precocious twelve year old with unconvincing eyebrows
* A wordsmith conman
* A highwayman turned reluctant and perplexed hero
* A number of warring gentlemanly guilds and various other colorful factions
* River-floating coffee houses that move from place to place on a schedule
* A wealth of intriguing world building
* Names taken very seriously and dictated by a Name Day god (and date and time of birth)
* Characters with hidden depths
* Wigs for different activities, and a wig so enormous that it’s suspended from the sedan chair rather than attached to the person’s head
* “The pursuing coffee house” in a sentence
* Weddings of the dead
* “…there is one thing that is more dangerous than Truth. Those who would try to silence Truth’s voice are more destructive by far...”
Saracen is an absolute darling of a goose.
Some excellent things within:
* A warrior goose
* A precocious twelve year old with unconvincing eyebrows
* A wordsmith conman
* A highwayman turned reluctant and perplexed hero
* A number of warring gentlemanly guilds and various other colorful factions
* River-floating coffee houses that move from place to place on a schedule
* A wealth of intriguing world building
* Names taken very seriously and dictated by a Name Day god (and date and time of birth)
* Characters with hidden depths
* Wigs for different activities, and a wig so enormous that it’s suspended from the sedan chair rather than attached to the person’s head
* “The pursuing coffee house” in a sentence
* Weddings of the dead
* “…there is one thing that is more dangerous than Truth. Those who would try to silence Truth’s voice are more destructive by far...”
Saracen is an absolute darling of a goose.
timinbc's review against another edition
4.0
Calling this a children's book is going to deprive a lot of grownups of a fun read.
You have to like a book that contains, "Follow that coffeehouse!"
Good lead character, some peripheral characters that appear to be made of cardboard but turn out otherwise. Decent plot, including some very believable parts of a young girl working out for herself that things are not as they seem. Nicely dysfunctional society with a lot of tensions that an author can hang a plot on.
There's a big scene near the end involving sailing that suggests Hardinge isn't a sailor, but that's a quibble.
Recommended for all.
You have to like a book that contains, "Follow that coffeehouse!"
Good lead character, some peripheral characters that appear to be made of cardboard but turn out otherwise. Decent plot, including some very believable parts of a young girl working out for herself that things are not as they seem. Nicely dysfunctional society with a lot of tensions that an author can hang a plot on.
There's a big scene near the end involving sailing that suggests Hardinge isn't a sailor, but that's a quibble.
Recommended for all.