This is a very enjoyable Regency-era time travel book! It opens at the Battle of Waterloo, where Wellington's troops are faltering as they wait for the Prussian reinforcements. Wellington orders that their secret troops be brought out, who are Frankenstein men that have been created to defeat Napoleon. This will lead to tragic consequences in the future for the United Kingdom and beyond, if a group of time travelers can't put things right (that once went wrong).
Our main heroes are Elizabeth and William, two neighbors who travel into the late 19th century courtesy of a mysterious watch Elizabeth receives in the post. William is a former soldier whose right arm was seriously injured in battle, and Elizabeth is a young lady who is desperate to escape the staid life awaiting her. I enjoy both of them very much, and the burgeoning relationship between them develops in a very satisfying way.
The book occasionally focuses too long on characters who never quite hit home with me the way Elizabeth and William do, and I often felt I was just a step ahead of the narrative in terms of understanding what was happening, which sometimes meant the pacing dragged a bit. However, the biggest issue I had with the book was the very late discovery that it was, in fact, the first book of a trilogy. It ends on a fairly big cliffhanger, and because I thought it was a standalone, that cliffhanger just made me annoyed rather than eager to read the next one. The third book is coming out next year, though so if I am still interested in what happens next at that point, I'll pick up both the second and third books and finish it.
Grade: B
Our main heroes are Elizabeth and William, two neighbors who travel into the late 19th century courtesy of a mysterious watch Elizabeth receives in the post. William is a former soldier whose right arm was seriously injured in battle, and Elizabeth is a young lady who is desperate to escape the staid life awaiting her. I enjoy both of them very much, and the burgeoning relationship between them develops in a very satisfying way.
The book occasionally focuses too long on characters who never quite hit home with me the way Elizabeth and William do, and I often felt I was just a step ahead of the narrative in terms of understanding what was happening, which sometimes meant the pacing dragged a bit. However, the biggest issue I had with the book was the very late discovery that it was, in fact, the first book of a trilogy. It ends on a fairly big cliffhanger, and because I thought it was a standalone, that cliffhanger just made me annoyed rather than eager to read the next one. The third book is coming out next year, though so if I am still interested in what happens next at that point, I'll pick up both the second and third books and finish it.
Grade: B
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