I put off writing this review because I’m still not sure whether I want to round up to four stars or down to three, because this is the quintessential three and a half star book. Like many people have been, I was a little disappointed with this book. I had a good enough time with it, and I will continue the series (via the library this time), but there was something about the writing that never really hooked my emotions or interest, despite it being a pretty good time. It was definitely too long for the amount of plot and character development we get, and “too long” is something I very rarely say about a fantasy book.
So this is a historical fantasy book set in the latter half of the nineteenth century. The main plot is concerned with several characters who are tasked with finding and retrieving children all across the world who have special magical talents, so they can come and live at this institute where children like them are protected and educated, and taught to use their Talents. But the two primary children we are concerned with in this book, Charlie and Marlowe, are being hunted by a mysterious and frightening man who is apparently made of smoke and darkness. We get backstory on this man and some of the characters, but the majority of the book is spent with our characters trying to get these kids back to the institute, and bottom line, this just went on for way too long.
If you like when characters are pursued by dangerous beings, then you will probably like this more than I did, but I wanted more plot and character development from this, and I feel like the book barely got going by the time it ended.
[3.5 stars]
