Stefan BachmannRecensioni

Overal I liked this book. I really liked how this book focused on witches and witch powers. I liked the characters but did not love them. I also felt a bit disconnected from them. I overall liked the pace and the plot and really liked how this book would be a good book to read in the fall because its had a light ereiry hint. I also really liked the house and the set of this story. I would def check out more reads by the author in the future.

Overal I liked this book. I really liked how this book focused on witches and witch powers. I liked the characters but did not love them. I also felt a bit disconnected from them. I overall liked the pace and the plot and really liked how this book would be a good book to read in the fall because its had a light ereiry hint. I also really liked the house and the set of this story. I would def check out more reads by the author in the future.

I've had a bit of a break in my 2016 reading and this was a great book to get back into the habit. It was fun.

The narrative switches between Anouk, a 17 year old American girl in 2016 that's heavily channeling Xanthippe from Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and Aurelie, a 17 year old French aristocrat running from revolutionaries in 1790. Chapters rarely exceeded 8 pages long and that made it easy to zip through chapter after chapter, switching stories fairly quickly. Both stories left me fascinated, flipping through quickly, eager to see the connections.

In tone, A Drop of Night was reminiscent of the movie Cube (which, granted, came out before the characters in the book were even born) with an injection of fantastical horror.

I was not familiar with Stefan Bachmann before this title, but I am so glad to know about him now. While the poverty and violence of this particular magical world may be a little much for the under-12s, the story is gripping and the characters are wonderfully engaging. I am always particularly impressed with authors who capture the dark side of the fairy world, and Stefan has certainly done that. A feast for the visual imagination and a fresh story.

children's fiction; faery fantasy a lil steampunk action/adventure.

A delightful fantasy that has twists that will challenge and ensnare young teens. It's a book I can imagine reading to my granddaughter when she's a few years older. Solid choice for school and public libraries.

I wasn't sure if I would enjoy this book but I was in the mood for something different. This book was good. I am anxious to see what happens in the 2nd book.

If you enjoy creepy short story collections then I think I might have found the perfect book for you. (Maybe this could be your Halloween read!) What makes this collection even more interesting is that it was compiled by 4 different children's authors. Claire Legrand, Emma Trevayne, Katherine Catmull, and Stefan Bachmann banded together to write The Cabinet of Curiosities: 36 Tales Brief & Sinister (the Internet has 36 and 40 which is thoroughly confusing even though I've read the book). This book has a little bit of everything and with the added benefit of different author's voices it is certainly never boring. There's magic, mystery, and straight up horror (just to name a few). The black and white illustrations that accompany each story are absolutely perfect (Great job, Alexander Jansson!) and were honestly one of the reasons why I picked up this book in the first place. They've laid out the narrative in a very unique way as they've styled the chapters like the different drawers and cubbies of a traditional cabinet of curiosities. The authors are the 'curators' of this unique cabinet and the stories are the background for each of the 'items' they've collected for the separate compartments. This helps to connect all of the disparate stories into one cohesive collection and keeps the pace moving. All in all, a solid collection that I might find myself drifting back to for the spooky season. 10/10

I liked this book much more than I thought I would. It was fun, and while it had a few similarities with Harry Potter, it was able to stand alone with an original story. What impressed me the most was the fact that this written by a 16 year old young man, who is also a very talented musician. If you get a chance check out the book's website and listen to the music he has composed to go along with the book. Very beautiful!

Recommended If You Like: books that are really far out there and take huge risks, something unlike anything you've read before, scary scenes, very creepy villains, flashbacks containing historical fiction with twists, strong female protagonists

The Book:

A group of teenagers have been flown to France, told they have been selected to be among the first to see and help unearth a massive underground palace.

But their true purpose has yet to be revealed, and they find themselves caught up in terrifying circumstances seemingly beyond their control.

What I Liked:

This is a gripping read. I had trouble putting it down when it was time to get off the bus or go to sleep. Bachmann is really good at building tension and suspense.

I loved that the strongest characters were female, both in the flashbacks and during the modern day scenes.

Anything I Didn't Like?

This book is really far out there in terms of the big reveal of what is truly going on. It's not what I had expected, and for me, it was too strange. But that is entirely a personal opinion, and, browsing on other blogs and review sites, this does seem to be a book that splits readers.

So...?

I really appreciate that Bachmann has gone for something really new and different here, and fully committed to it. For me, it was just too much, but others have loved it.½

A bit overwritten. ?�Darker than the pretty-ish cover implies. ?áHorror, I've decided, is when innocents get victimized. ?áFantasy/ folk tales punish the bad guys. ?áThis is too much horror for me. ?áAlso the stories are too short for me. ?áI probably would have loved it as a child. ?áClever, and some are esp. poignant.

Otoh, they're perfect for school children. ?áA reluctant reader could read a whole story during one period of SSR. ?áOr, a teacher could assign each child a story to learn and share, one per week over the course of the year. ?á(Maybe it's an additional duty for Student of the Week.) ?áOr, a parent could have their child read to them while commuting or preparing dinner.

I will look for more by the authors, but I won't look too hard...

I think we all have a wolf inside us.... ?áYou'll know when your shoulders drop back, when your chin lifts high; when you run lightly and with grace; when you know you are an animal, and free." ?áCatmull

"Like most grown-ups, she had not listened to the deep, secret place inside herself for years." ?áLeGrand

"All the noise of words and saying and choosing and judging is left behind you. ?áYou only see the great beauty of the stone, the shell.... ?áAll the words gone quiet." ?áCatmull

Most stories were wholly original. ?áI did like their take on The Twelve Dancing Princesses (by Catmull).

I also learned of the existence of two stories by H.C. Andersen I don't recognize: ?áOle Lukoje and The Shadow. ?áI'll have to track them down, perhaps on Project Gutenberg."

Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales

Quick & Dirty: Five teenagers on a trip to explore an underground palace, when everything begins to go crazy, will they make it out alive?

Opening Sentence: “We are fleeing along the upper gallery when the windows explode.”

The Review:

Anouk feels like she has won a chance of a life time when she gets picked to go on an expedition to excavate the Palais du Papillon. She arrives at the airport to meet the other teenagers picked: Hayden, Will, Jules and Lilly. Anouk is initially aloof, because she has her own secrets to keep, and she doesn’t want the other teens to find them out. When they arrive in France and at the villa they are staying at, she begins to suspect something is off, and questions the leader of the expedition. When he hands out pills after dinner, Anouk is the only one who doesn’t want to take them and attempts to hide that from the adults.

When she wakes underground, she gets the other kids up except for Hayden who won’t wake, and they take off into the palace underground. From there everything begins to go crazy, and as they run through the twisted traps and killing rooms, Anouk wonders if they will ever make it out alive? It becomes clear almost instantly that this palace is going to challenge them mentally and physically. While they try to avoid traps, something/someone is hunting them, and they are trying to figure out who all is locked down in this palace. Anouk knows that no one is looking for them and they will have to push themselves to their limits in order to survive.

I am kind of wavering on whether I outright love this, or just really like it. I was sucked in and read the entire book in one sitting. I had to know what was going on. I was literally on the edge of my seat trying to figure things out and by the end I was totally blown away. A pure mixture of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. I really enjoyed how the characters evolved. Anouk was a total aloof brat at the beginning of the book, but those same qualities are kind of what helps the teens in the end. Because she is so jaded and mistrustful, she doesn’t willingly go along with taking the mystery pill, and that makes all the difference. She is also extremely gifted with languages and the other teens all seem to have special skills, and they quickly start bonding and figuring things out as a team.

I said I was wavering on the love or strongly like of this book, but only because I just haven’t quite processed how I feel. On the hand this is a brilliant mind game type of a book, the answers are so out there and shocking that it feels like a roller coaster ride by the end. I think I am leaning towards love, but that’s because this book is right up my alley. I adore that combination of horror and fantasy with major twists and so much darkness. A Drop of Night delivers that and so much more, it is a page turning thriller and just when you think you have something figured out, you find that you are totally wrong.

I saw the comparison of I Know What You Did Last Summer meets Frankenstein. I am not sure I agree with those comparisons. At least the I Know What You Sid Last Summer, that kind of implies the teens have done something bad and covered it up, and then try to survive a killer. Only one of those things really applies to this story, I will not disagree with the Frankenstein aspect, because I think that kind of suits this book. All in all, this book is great and it will definitely appeal to those who love horror and dark books.

Notable Scene:

“Jules is frowning, probably wondering what the odds are that everyone on this team is an asocial freak.”

“It turns out having medical reasons to be mean and angry doesn’t actually help you become less mean and angry.”

“An underground palace as large as the Sun King’s Court but buried 100 feet down was probably too ridiculous and excessive luxury to even consider.”

“I don’t know what it is, but something feels wrong.”

“I close my eyes and hope he didn’t notice me in the dimness.”

“Perdu’s tied up at the end of the panic room like a psychotic freaking Smeagol.”

FTC Advisory: Greenwillow/HarperTeen provided me with a copy of A Drop Of Night. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.

I picked up this book based upon the cover. When I started reading it I was hooked right away! Steampunk, magic, goblins, faeries & suspense! I couldn't wait to get to the end to see what happened. The book was also full of action & good characters. The setting takes place in London during a time when humans & faeries must live together but neither is happy about it. Just a really good story. Can't wait for book 2.

Maybe I wasn't in the mood for steampunk fantasy, but this book was very unsatisfying for me. I found myself skimming quite a bit, and if it were not a mere 265 pages, I would have put this one down. In my opinion, the characters were not properly set up. This seemed to be the second book in a series, making me feel like I had started the book in the middle. I had no sympathy for the protagonist and no disdain for the antagonist.

I would have liked more of a day-to-day life description of the characters before they were thrust into action. While the preface was nice in that it described the faery world coming to England, I didn't get a good feel for the reason, the changes, or the new life with these creatures. What was so wrong with changelings? Was the author trying to make a commentary on a section of humanity in their story?

In the end, I was glad it was over, was completely unsatisfied in the finish, will not read more and cannot recommend.

3.5 out of 5 stars. I've been on an anthology kick lately and this one has been my least favorite so far. It was still good, I would still recommend it, it had some great stories, but none of them really stood out to me. They were kind of all just okay to me. That aside the cover art is gorgeous and the reading is easy. Over all, 3.5 out of 5 stars, I like I said.

I loved this book. I would imagine if you like JK Rowling, you will engage with this one.

The only thing that has surprised me when reading the reviews below, is that unlike some of the readers I found the first few chapters hard work. The first chapter was engaging from page one, but then it began to be tricky to get into the story. By the middle though I was hooked. Like others, I felt the story did come to an abrubt ending, but I am hoping I can find the rest in the series to read. I did not know it was from a first time author though till today!

Bartholomew Kettle wäre gern ein ganz normaler Junge, aber er findet sich hässlich – fast so hässlich wie seine Schwester Hettie. Freunde hat er keine. Wie auch? Schließlich ist er ein Seltsamer, halb Mensch, halb Feenwesen, von beiden verachtet, vor beiden auf der Hut. Besonders seit Mischlinge wie er auf mysteriöse Weise verschwinden. Eines Tages taucht eine geheimnisvolle Dame in einem pflaumenfarbenen Kleid im Slum von Bath auf. Bartholomew beobachtet sie verstohlen durchs Fenster. Was will sie? Als plötzlich Federn aufwirbeln und die Dame mit einem weiteren Mischlingskind entschwindet, vergisst Barthy jegliche Vorsicht – und wird bemerkt. Ein tollpatschiger junger Politiker, der alle Parlamentssitzungen verschläft, scheint der Einzige zu sein, der Barthy helfen will. Barthy ist überzeugt: Der Nächste in der Reihe bin ich. (Quelle: goodreads)

I received a sneak peek copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I love spooky middle grade stories. When I saw this, I immediately got intrigued (I mean, look at that cover!) and the contributing authors are all well known. I definitely am glad I got to peek into this book. I wish all 36 tales would've been included in the ARC, but I definitely will be buying a copy when it's released.

The main reason I loved this was because of how scary it is. I know scary isn't normally a description I use for middle grade/young adult novels. I mean, I am an adult...and I don't think I've ever really gotten genuinely creeped out by a novel like this. So when I read it late at night and got kinda jumpy, well I was delighted! I mean, what a surprise!

The stories are all very short. Id say no more than 5 or so pages each. And there are plenty of amazing and sinister illustrations too, which is always a bonus. If you're in the mood for an atmospheric book that has a bunch of scary short stories, you need to pick this one up. But, if you're buying this for a child - be warned, may give them nightmares ;)

Just finished Stefan Bachman's The Peculiar, which started off really cool and interesting (faries! Steampunk! Bath and London!) and sadly lost steam (lol I slay me) as it developed.

I think this is partly because to me it seemed the writing began to suffer from about the half way mark on, as though the first half of the book had been worked on carefully, and the second merely spat out. There was a lot of really cool ideas and imagery, but characterisation was thin and weak, and the plot relied a lot on coincidence.

So, a sort-of recommendation for those who love books about fay and UK. As a first novel from a young writer, it shows *a lot* of promise, but hopefully the writer doesn't rest on his wunderkind laurels and works harder at his craft.

(I see he's written a handful of books since then, so I may check them out at some stage if the library has them.)

I have wanted to read this book for some time. I ended up picking it up off of the dollar table at one of my son’s book fairs at school. It ended up being a wonderful steampunk middle grade novel with magic and mystery.

This book takes place in an alternate London where fae unwillingly fell into our world. The story follows two characters; the first is Bartholomew Kettle, who lives with his mother and sister in the faery slums of Bath. Bartholomew is a Peculiar, half fae and half human. When he sees a strange woman in a rich plum dress he is determined to find out the mystery behind her. The other character is Arthur Jellyby who is on the London council. Arthur just wants to coast through life unnoticed and unbothered, however he ends up drawn into a mystery surrounding the disappearance of Peculiars that puts him in contact with Bartholomew.

I loved the lush and descriptive writing. This book is all about the moody atmospheric setting; the descriptive writing makes all of the scenes really come alive so that you feel like you are walking the streets of this strange and peculiar London.

There is some excellent world building here and I really loved the idea of a London where faery had unwillingly taken residence. It’s a very creative idea and very well done. I love that you never know what kind of fae you will see next wandering the streets of this book.

This is one of the first middle grade steampunk books I have ever read and it was well done. There are a lot of fun steampunk elements in here.

Probably my biggest issue with the story was that I had a bit of trouble engaging with the characters. I just am not all that sympathetic to the characters and their plight; they come off as a bit dry. I also thought the story ended very abruptly. I didn’t realize that this was part of a series, but even knowing that now the ending to this book just seems very unfinished...which is a shame.

Overall this was a well done middle grade steampunk novel. I enjoyed the world-building and the wonderfully descriptive writing. I did have some trouble engaging with the characters though. I would recommend to middle grade and older readers who love mysteries with some fantasy in them; especially to those who are interested in the steampunk genre. I personally am not sure if I will continue reading the series.

I did not get all the way through this one. The problem was that there were no characters that I cared about at all.

First of all, let me say that this novel is incredibly well written, especially for a first time author. I loved the writing. The world building as well is just fantastic. Just amazing descriptions of wide variety of places, from the slums of faery-land to London High Society.

However, I had a few problems with a couple of parts of this novel. I had a hard time getting attached to any of the characters. I did like Bartholomew, but struggled to really get attached to him or to Arthur. The author, in my opinion, was a bit too distant when writing from their points of view.

I also got frustrated by the number of questions the author left unanswered. For example, WHY does everyone hate the changelings/Peculiars so much? I never got a hint as to why they were so universally despised. Or Why were Arthur and Bartholomew able to fight off the effects of the magic spells when others were not? What makes them special? These were vital plot points in the novel, but I was left with these nagging questions pulling away my attention from the main plot of the novel.

The ending was very well done, but there wasn’t any sort of conclusion. It just kind of ends, with the characters standing in the rubble. Did they get arrested? They have no sort of proof about the plot they just stopped. What happened to them? It was very frustrating for me as a reader.

Overall, I still give this four stars. It might have given it five stars, despite the unanswered questions, if the novel had even a short chapter of conclusions on it.

Great fantasy, action-packed novel! The story, half-steampunk genre follows Bartholomew as he tries to free his sister, after she has been taken to open a faery door between the Old Country and London. With the help of Mr. Jelliby, he will have to fight off humans and faery alike.

Middle grade hasn’t really been my thing lately, but I recommend this anthology SO highly. For one thing, it’s absolutely gorgeous: the cover, the illustrations, the formatting. It’s just perfection. Even better, the stories within it are wonderful too. Usually in an anthology, I like a couple really well and some are okay and a whole bunch are duds. In this case, there are only a couple that I was meh on and none that I disliked. Though I do think I generally liked Legrand’s stories the best, I am impressed with all four authors and none of them stands out as less talented. There was no author where I would sigh every time I got to their stories. All four authors are immensely talented. The writing is gorgeous across the board and the scenarios imaginative. Their sense of humor shines as well, in the notes from one curator to another.

Read the full review at A Reader of Fictions.