Review - The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter by Theodora Goss #AllHallowsWeek

Series: Extraordinary Adventures of the Athena Club #1

Genre: Historical Fiction/Fantasy

Age Group: YA/Adult 

Hardcover - 402

Source: Purchased

Published - June 2017 

Add it // Buy it

Rating: 4/5

Mary Jekyll, alone and penniless following her parents’ death, is curious about the secrets of her father’s mysterious past. One clue in particular hints that Edward Hyde, her father’s former friend and a murderer, may be nearby, and there is a reward for information leading to his capture…a reward that would solve all of her immediate financial woes.

But her hunt leads her to Hyde’s daughter, Diana, a feral child left to be raised by nuns. With the assistance of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, Mary continues her search for the elusive Hyde, and soon befriends more women, all of whom have been created through terrifying experimentation: Beatrice Rappaccini, Catherin Moreau, and Justine Frankenstein.

When their investigations lead them to the discovery of a secret society of immoral and power-crazed scientists, the horrors of their past return. Now it is up to the monsters to finally triumph over the monstrous.

Though I have a few quibbles with this book, overall I really enjoyed it and will definitely be reading book two. These ladies find one another and protect themselves while the world tries to tear them apart. They are all different and have their own strengths. I really enjoyed how they fell in together and became a found family. Their arguments are in the vein of sibling disagreements rather than "cat fights." The dynamic between all of them is quite refreshing. There are girls using reasoning and science to solve crimes with other girls so of course I loved this! 

Onto my issues: 

First of all the pacing in this book doesn't fit. The last third of the book felt like a drawn out conclusion. The story was disjointed and several elements could've been reorganized to help alleviate this problem. For example, one of the girls' origin stories happened after what I considered the climax of the novel. This didn't fit after the events and would've created more suspense before the scene with the most drama. Th

I think there were a few word choices that, while they fit with the time period, could have been left out in modern times. There is a specific passage where Cat refers to America and Australia having "savages" that didn't add anything to the story. 

My last complaint was the choice to use the asides between our main characters in the text. The extra dialogue between characters was amusing and gave us a glimpse into what might be coming in more books so I did like the idea. However, in practice these extra conversations stripped all the tension out of the story! The girls are talking about this adventure in the past tense. They've all survived! It took some of the wind out of my sails when 
I realized this. 

My Last Review ⇒ The Language of Thorns by Leigh Bardugo