I was surprised by how difficult I found it to focus on this book -- normally Tansy's stories grab around my brain and don't let go, but I put this down repeatedly with frustration at what was going on. It's a novella, so I wasn't expecting a complex plot, but so much of it felt either like set dressing or set up for later works. Fortunately for me, I have book two (it's arrival was what prompted me to read this one, which I had been hoarding 'for later').

The prose is, unsurprisingly, beautiful and beguiling. The characters are fabulously realised, varied, and fascinating. The world-building shows through the cracks a bit much, hence my comment about set dressing / set up. And the plot felt like the prologue for something much bigger. It shouldn't have felt too thin, but somehow there wasn't enough of it to hold the story up, despite there being two main threads that come together in an unsurprising twist (I'm not entirely sure that there was meant to be a surprise; to some extent I think Tansy telegraphed several of the plots points with finesse).

Overall: solid fantasy, for those who like classically streamlined plots ( )

How can you not love a book which has chapter titles like "In Which Miss Wednesday is Snubbed By a House"? This was a comfort read, despite it being a completely new story. I'm looking forward to the sequel coming out in April.

This is definitely a look at an alternate Victorian England where fairies and magic were a part of the world, but there are enough name changes that it took me a little while to realize that it was actually an alternate version of our world and not a similar-but-different world (the way that the author's Teacup Magic books are similar-but-different). I enjoyed the book without the alternate world aspect playing a role at all; I was enjoying the story purely for the characters and story itself. It's not an entirely fluff story—there are deeper themes here if you choose to read into them. Themes of family and what makes up "family;" themes of debt and honor; themes of duty and equality. But those themes are woven into a fun romp of a fairy story, and the whole makes for a thoroughly enjoyable novella. ( )