A review by whimsicallymeghan
Curiosity House: The Fearsome Firebird by Lauren Oliver, H. C. Chester

3.0

Sam, Pip, Thomas and Max have just escaped from the clutches of evil Nicholas Rattigan, when General Farnum, the ringmaster to the museum’s popular flea circus is wrongfully accused of murder. The children are now on the case to search for the real killer, but they suspect Rattigan is behind this. It’s time for them to catch Rattigan once and for all before they fall into his disastrous hands. This was the concluding novel in the Curiosity House trilogy and it really ended this series quite well. There was one last murder mystery for our characters to solve and this also weaved really well into the overarching plot of the trilogy, the man who made them who they are, trying to capture them for his own gain once and for all. It was such an engaging story and the reader found the pacing to be really fast because so much was going on. The reader never knew what was going to happen next, which kept them on their toes and wanting to read on to find out more. Not only did we get these fast-paced and entertaining plots, but the development and growth we got from the characters was well done too. We learned a little bit more about these characters, who they were and who they wanted to become. The way this ended left plots wrapped up, but it also felt reflective of these kids who realized they won’t always be kids forever; they don’t know what the future holds but as long as they have each other, they’ll be ok. There was something so charming about that, that really left this ending on such a beautiful note. After a rough start to this trilogy, in the end it pulled through and became a really fun and exciting read full of oddities, freaks and strange things.