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A review by telltalepage
The Mesmerist by Ronald L. Smith
4.0
Dark and mysterious, faeries, ouji boards and Victorian England? Count me in!
This book was quite good at bringing me into the time period, with Smith's grotesque and vivid representation of the times, especially as we follow the main character, Jessamine, from a prim and proper town to the slums of the East Side of London. The plotline was pretty basic and I figured out all of the "twists" before they happened; as a seasoned fantasy reader, it was easy to spot where some of the subplots were headed!
There was a lovely cast of characters (3 girls > 1 boy and a male faerie!!) which was fun to read about. I enjoyed Jess's determination, though I felt like the story happened much too quickly (internal timeline wise), and the ending chapter/plot point felt very haphazardly thrown into the mix just to give a more rounded ending. It didn't quite jive with me, but the rest of the book was so engaging because of the writing style, I was happy to give this a four star rating.
This book was quite good at bringing me into the time period, with Smith's grotesque and vivid representation of the times, especially as we follow the main character, Jessamine, from a prim and proper town to the slums of the East Side of London. The plotline was pretty basic and I figured out all of the "twists" before they happened; as a seasoned fantasy reader, it was easy to spot where some of the subplots were headed!
There was a lovely cast of characters (3 girls > 1 boy and a male faerie!!) which was fun to read about. I enjoyed Jess's determination, though I felt like the story happened much too quickly (internal timeline wise), and the ending chapter/plot point felt very haphazardly thrown into the mix just to give a more rounded ending. It didn't quite jive with me, but the rest of the book was so engaging because of the writing style, I was happy to give this a four star rating.