Prompt – A book with a main character in their 20s
Medium – Book
About the Book – The sequel to ‘European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman’, Theodora Goss presents the next adventures of the Athena Club. Mary, Justine, Diana, Catherine and Beatrice return as they receive a message that their kitchen maid, Alice, and Sherlock Holmes (Mary’s employer and love interest in this story) have been kidnapped. It soon becomes clear that Alice is the daughter of Helen Raymond, a powerful mesmerist, who wants to combine their powers to take the throne of England for a Eugenicist/nationalist group. However, there is a separate plan between some of our female villains which is even more concerning.
My Rating – 9.5/10. I so enjoyed the second book in this series, I decided to move straight on and read the next book. I’m so glad I did! The story in this third book follows on from the one that is found in the second book, and includes a lot of the themes found in the last book. The book includes two main story lines – the actions of the members of the Athena Club in trying to find their missing friends, and the story around Alice, who is trying to escape her captivity, find out what is going on and help Holmes as well. The two story lines converge a few times, bring the main points of action in the book. One of the key points I really enjoyed in the book was the ‘mis-step’ the author uses with the villains. At the beginning of the book, seven powerful men gather – including Professor Moriarty, Dr Seward and Sebastian Moran. However, fairly soon, these men are out-thought by their female accomplices, Margaret Trelawney and Helen Raymond, who raise the Egyptian Queen Tera to be the ruler of the British Empire.
I really enjoyed the main characters, including the inclusion of Alice as a main player in the book (she turns out to be a mesmerist – kind of a more powerful illusionist). She is an extremely clever and very measured character who manages to double-cross her captors who think she is more sympathetic to them than she is. The author also explores the complex relationship between her and her ‘new’ mother, after she has lived most of her life as an orphan. Another part of the book I enjoyed was the burgeoning relationship between Mary Jekyll and Sherlock Holmes – it wasn’t too overplayed (both the characters are quite restrained and not to lovey-dovey), and just felt very natural. The only reason I have marked this book down by half a point is because the author has definitely drawn a line under the series and there isn’t really the chance of any sequels. I just think that is a bit of a shame, as I would have liked to see how the Athena Club develops, as well as seeing the other cases that the club is involved in.
Would I read it again? Definitely, like the first two it is staying on my shelves!
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