Once upon a not very long time ago, there was a girl. She was, as are all good heroines, an orphan. There was also present in the excellent cast an evil aunt who had no redeeming qualities whatsoever and many evil qualities such as superficiality, horrible-mom-ality, greediness and horribleness to the niece she took on as a ward not out of the goodness of her heart because the jury’s still out on whether she has a heart but for some reason. Or other. Which is hinted at later in the novel. This girl was a shrewd sort who knew that to survive in the big bad world, one needs to be less sentimental and more badass. So when her aunt sent her off to the eccentric uncle’s estate to have him declared insane, she decided to go and do so. Not because declaring people insane gave her any sort of pleasure but because not doing so would mean a rather poor future or rather poorer than it was at the moment.That is the premise of the novel and while I make light of it, I loved every single sentence in the novel. The writing has such grace and such strength that it is a pleasure to read. The characters are vibrant and well delineated, individualized and have dynamic relationships of their own. The novel is moody, atmospheric and poignant. It is more gothic than steampunk in my opinion because though machines are present, it doesn’t have that essence of steampunkery…like the dresses, the tone and the feel. There is a house that is as much a character in the novel as anyone else. There are servants who do not know their places and a love interest who is just complicated in all the right ways.I enjoyed the complexity brought about by the positioning of the protagonist as an usurper. While having her uncle declared insane is not her idea, she is complicit with it from the very beginning and there are moments when the reader is unsure whether she will do as she should or will she choose for safety. The uncle is a unique character – autistic, I believe though no official term is given to whatever his condition is but I found his portrayal and the depiction of all his foibles to be extraordinary. There are no judgments though there are some frustrations and I liked that there were. It made things a lot more realistic than Katherine’s immediate acceptance.I was a big fan of Davy and his rabbit and I found their particular arc, that particular culmination to be all sorts of heartbreaking. The pacing is splendid and though it was very obvious who the villain of the piece was, I felt that the way the villain’s story was situated and inserted into the narrative was masterful. What I did have a quibble with was the ending. If this is a standalone and not the first of a series, I will be unhappy because we leave the story with too many questions unanswered – at least in one aspect of Katherine’s life. I’m not saying I like neat endings necessarily but that the story feels like it hasn’t been fully told yet.Other than that, I totally recommend this novel to you. The writing, characterizing, plotting and pacing are all superb. I had fun reading this and will be sure to check out the author’s other books whenever I have a chance to do so.
