nicolemhill's review against another edition
4.0
This one started off as 5 stars for me, but meandered a bit toward the end. The alt-history, fantasy concept held on to me, even at points where the plot plodded a bit. Absolutely recommend to anyone who's even the tiniest bit intrigued by the smoke.
hanna3110's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
1.0
delaneybull's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
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? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore
Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death
kittykornerlibrarian's review against another edition
4.0
This puts me in mind of Philip Pullman's Golden Compass trilogy, except it's much better. It has the dark atmosphere, the Victorian-era alternate universe, the school-age protagonists, and the scientific preoccupation with sin (Dust in Pullman; Smoke in Vyleta). Thomas and Charlie are school friends at an elitist boarding school that trains up young aristocrats to reject sin and live free of the Smoke that is a product of the immoral lives of the lower classes. They visit a country house, meet their friend/potential romantic interest Livia, the daughter of the house who applies her strength of character to remain free of sin and Smoke. The plot does get somewhat convoluted and the frantic efforts by the young people to figure out what is going on with the science and experimentation around Smoke lack clarity. Still, it's well-written throughout, and the characters are well-drawn. I would read more by this author.
miiasun's review against another edition
5.0
Smoke was... interesting, definitely. The idea of smoke pouring out of your body when you think of "bad" things is intriguing. Especially since the stuff that caused you to smoke wasn't always purely bad, but sometimes it came with passion, fear, shame, etc. Nevertheless, smoking is deemed as a bad thing: only the wretched smoke, and low social classes; the gentry, never (or so they want you to believe).
Smoke is set in Victorian era England. The main characters are two boys and, later on, a girl, all three from the upper class and thus educated about the sinfulness of smoke. Thomas is rough, spontaneous and quick to anger, and burdened with his somewhat dark past and grim-looking future. Lots of his parts in the book were about him fighting himself, trying not to lose himself in the smoke even if he's told that evil is in his blood. Charlie, on the other hand, is almost an angel. He is well mannered and wouldn't hurt a fly; he barely smokes. People like Charlie. These characters sound almost like caricatures, and their friendship highly unlikely, but truthfully they were well written and balanced. I cherished the fact that they stayed best friends through all the crap they went through.
The third main character is Livia. She is introduced as this goody-goody, annoying, prune of a person, but fortunately she loosens up quite quickly and becomes an interesting character as well. Oh, and there's also a love triangle, but I don't want to talk about that. Let's just say that it was pleasant at some times, and frustrating at most other times. What I loved about the characters was the depth of the self-reflection they had. Even when they were stuck in a pitch black mine for a week, it wasn't boring because they thought about stuff during that time and grew, especially Livia.
I also loved the writing in itself, it was descriptive and well paced. Also, lots of semicolons. It never ceased to amaze me how the narration jumped so seamlessly between different points of view: sometimes it was in first person, sometimes in third, and still it wasn't confusing. Moreover, it felt like all the important characters in the scene got their thoughts out to the reader, regardless of who had the main point of view in the chapter. In addition to the three main characters, the book also had other narrators, some recurrent and others isolated instances, and they brought depth to the plot.
I was most saddened by the end of the book because I hadn't learned what exactly caused smoke. The scientist in me is crying. Is it biological? It was apparent that it didn't exist in 1500, so who invented it? Is it a sickness? Can it be cured? What the book mostly concentrated on was whether it should be cured; the question of good and evil. I didn't mind that, instead it was fascinating to read about the different opinions of the characters, and how they changed through the book.
Smoke was such a surprising book for me, and I liked it all the more for it. I hadn't expected to like it this much, and even halfway through I was somehow unsure about if I could love it. It wasn't exciting per se, but it was lovely in a quieter kind of way.
Smoke is set in Victorian era England. The main characters are two boys and, later on, a girl, all three from the upper class and thus educated about the sinfulness of smoke. Thomas is rough, spontaneous and quick to anger, and burdened with his somewhat dark past and grim-looking future. Lots of his parts in the book were about him fighting himself, trying not to lose himself in the smoke even if he's told that evil is in his blood. Charlie, on the other hand, is almost an angel. He is well mannered and wouldn't hurt a fly; he barely smokes. People like Charlie. These characters sound almost like caricatures, and their friendship highly unlikely, but truthfully they were well written and balanced. I cherished the fact that they stayed best friends through all the crap they went through.
The third main character is Livia. She is introduced as this goody-goody, annoying, prune of a person, but fortunately she loosens up quite quickly and becomes an interesting character as well. Oh, and there's also a love triangle, but I don't want to talk about that. Let's just say that it was pleasant at some times, and frustrating at most other times. What I loved about the characters was the depth of the self-reflection they had. Even when they were stuck in a pitch black mine for a week, it wasn't boring because they thought about stuff during that time and grew, especially Livia.
I also loved the writing in itself, it was descriptive and well paced. Also, lots of semicolons. It never ceased to amaze me how the narration jumped so seamlessly between different points of view: sometimes it was in first person, sometimes in third, and still it wasn't confusing. Moreover, it felt like all the important characters in the scene got their thoughts out to the reader, regardless of who had the main point of view in the chapter. In addition to the three main characters, the book also had other narrators, some recurrent and others isolated instances, and they brought depth to the plot.
I was most saddened by the end of the book because I hadn't learned what exactly caused smoke. The scientist in me is crying. Is it biological? It was apparent that it didn't exist in 1500, so who invented it? Is it a sickness? Can it be cured? What the book mostly concentrated on was whether it should be cured; the question of good and evil. I didn't mind that, instead it was fascinating to read about the different opinions of the characters, and how they changed through the book.
Smoke was such a surprising book for me, and I liked it all the more for it. I hadn't expected to like it this much, and even halfway through I was somehow unsure about if I could love it. It wasn't exciting per se, but it was lovely in a quieter kind of way.
jerihurd's review against another edition
3.0
I was expecting something entirely different from what this turned out to be, so that rating is unsure. Based on an, as it turns out, entirely misguided review, I was expecting a more literary book, a Dickensian parody. What Smoke is is a slightly more aspirational teens-change-the-world dystopian, set in pseudo-Edwardian London. Its use of smoke as a metaphor is also very reminiscent of The Golden Compass. Overall not a bad read, but infinitely less than I was hoping for.
reading_with_emma's review against another edition
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
missamandamae's review against another edition
5.0
Holy cow. This book is INTENSE. You think it's going to be some English boarding school drama set in an alt history/dystopian society, but it only builds from there. I'm still having to process what I read. WOW. Imagining a world held in some kind of religious fear from progressing, and the lengths people go to achieve the needed "piety" (or at least some version of it) to be high on the social chain is chilling. It will disgust and repulse you. But DANG was it an exciting read! This would make an insanely creepy film. Can we get Hiddleston in one of the schoolmaster roles? Oh, he'd be good.
mjsteimle's review against another edition
2.0
2.5 stars. The book started out strong but then the plot got a bit murky and dragged on and on. The book was about 150 pages too long. The book is set in late nineteenth-century England; however, in this alternate version of history people's sins are visible by a smoke they emit. London is a filthy place inhabited by degenerates. Meanwhile, members of the upper class have learned to control their passions and live clean and largely smokeless. The main characters are three prep school teenagers who find out that smoke isn't exactly what they've always been taught to believe.