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timinbc's review
3.0
This had its moments, and overall was worthwhile.
As others noted, there's a lot of explanation of things that didn't need it, and not enough for things that did.
I had no problem with the anti-semitism others have mentioned. I think it probably reflects London at the time, where acceptance and integration were in process but still had some distance to go. I'll trust a histfic writer on this. Ditto with Crowley, whose excesses were not created by this author.
Walter is far too nasty, even for the explanation eventually given. It puts the book into the standard YA format of "it's so unFAIR!" and this book is better than that. And Hawke was a caricature.
I liked the smart women who had figured out how to operate in Victorian society.
Thomas's work on the mathematics of magic was VERY handwavey, but I'm OK with that. I read a lot of SF too, where the same plot is "if I can just invert the polarity of the frammis vertner, ..."
As others noted, there's a lot of explanation of things that didn't need it, and not enough for things that did.
I had no problem with the anti-semitism others have mentioned. I think it probably reflects London at the time, where acceptance and integration were in process but still had some distance to go. I'll trust a histfic writer on this. Ditto with Crowley, whose excesses were not created by this author.
Walter is far too nasty, even for the explanation eventually given. It puts the book into the standard YA format of "it's so unFAIR!" and this book is better than that. And Hawke was a caricature.
I liked the smart women who had figured out how to operate in Victorian society.
Thomas's work on the mathematics of magic was VERY handwavey, but I'm OK with that. I read a lot of SF too, where the same plot is "if I can just invert the polarity of the frammis vertner, ..."
eliz_reads's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
kaeliwolf's review
2.0
I'm not really a fan of the writing style in this book, it feels like the author is trying too hard to make themselves sound smart, which they do, don't get me wrong. I read to escape not to read a page only to have to reread it approximately 3 more times simply to understand what the author is trying to portray.
kateycakee's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Maths is cool
kleonard's review
2.0
David Liss is known for his somewhat baroque novels usually dealing with finance or speculation or similar matters revolving around money, and this novel is no different. In an England wherein people are turning into animals and women truly are giving birth to rabbits, a young man of a banking family finds strange goings-on in the bank and investigates, learning about the real-life Hermetic Order of the Ancient Dawn and coming into contact with figures like William Butler Yeats, Aleister Crowley, and others. With the help of a motley group of friends and allies, he must use maths as magic to stop extra-dimensional killers and the bank's board from bringing about worldwide devastation. Liss's writing style is meant to emulate the writers of the period, but I've never thought this to be very good--instead, in instills a sense of dullness to the writing and to the plot and feelings of the characters, and I find it incredibly distasteful to emulate, unchecked, the antisemitism and other prejudices of the time period. But if you don't mind that the narrator is an antisemite and mostly a jerk, feel free to read. It's too bad that Liss's desire to recreate the nastier aspects of Victorian writing overshadow theclever ideas that make up the plot and the interesting characters.
esdeecarlson's review
4.0
**This book was provided to me by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.**
4.5 stars
Such an imaginative, compelling take on the matter of magic! The Peculiarities shines in its storytelling, its worldbuilding, and the development of its characters.
However. Reader, beware: The first few chapters, I worried I might not like the book terribly much, if at all. The main character (Thomas) was so passive, the other characters so lightly sketched, and a few chapters in there was a disturbing scene that made me worry the book as a whole was going to be in bad taste.
But as it turns out, the beginning was calculated. As the book goes on, Thomas turns from a listless superfluous man into a perceptive and determined hero; the side characters are revealed, through Thomas’s increasing attention to them, to be complex and interesting. And the world, though cruel, is a place of hope. This is a novel which demonstrates real character growth and change over the course of the story, and not just because our protagonist is slowly turning into a tree. I loved this book, and I think those who stick past the first few chapters will as well.
Content warnings: rape, anti-Semitism
4.5 stars
Such an imaginative, compelling take on the matter of magic! The Peculiarities shines in its storytelling, its worldbuilding, and the development of its characters.
However. Reader, beware: The first few chapters, I worried I might not like the book terribly much, if at all. The main character (Thomas) was so passive, the other characters so lightly sketched, and a few chapters in there was a disturbing scene that made me worry the book as a whole was going to be in bad taste.
But as it turns out, the beginning was calculated. As the book goes on, Thomas turns from a listless superfluous man into a perceptive and determined hero; the side characters are revealed, through Thomas’s increasing attention to them, to be complex and interesting. And the world, though cruel, is a place of hope. This is a novel which demonstrates real character growth and change over the course of the story, and not just because our protagonist is slowly turning into a tree. I loved this book, and I think those who stick past the first few chapters will as well.
Content warnings: rape, anti-Semitism
kimberwieg's review
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
ewormuth's review against another edition
5.0
I really enjoyed this book. I'm not usually a fantasy reader, but the premise intrigued me, and the fantasy is pretty rooted in reality, including characters like Aleister Crowley and Arthur Conan Doyle. It was humorous and horrific at the same time. I liked the conjunction of magic and mathematics, and I really liked Thomas, the main character. To me, he seemed complex and sympathetic. As others have said, it begins a little slowly, but I was engaged throughout, and it really gets going in the last third of the book.
theknees_bees's review
3.0
absolute acid trip. did i have some problems with how some characters were written and some words that were used? yeah i 100% did but was it camp? so camp. this book was insane and is the first book i read in 2022, the year when i actually started reading again