A Thousand Perfect Things

by Kay Kenyon

In this epic new work, the award-winning Kenyon, whose work has be compared to Larry Nivens and Stephen R. Donaldson, creates an alternate Earth in the 19th century. This Earth is ruled by two warring factions—scientific Anglica (England) and magical Bharata (India).

Tori Harding, a Victorian woman, whose heart aches to claim the legendary powers of the golden lotus, must leave her reasoned world behind and journey to Bharata. In pursuit of the golden lotus, Tori will be forced to brave its magics, intrigues, deadly secrets and haunted places, to claim her destiny and choose between two lovers in two irreconcilable realms.

As a great native insurrection sweeps the continent of Bharata—Tori will find the thing she most desires, beautifully flawed and more wonderfully strange than she could have ever dreamed.

Genres: Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Steampunk, Fiction, Alternate History, Science Fiction, Magic

292 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 12, 2013

About the author

Kay Kenyon is a fantasy and science fiction author. She is now working on her 21st novel, a fantasy. She has been a finalist for the Philip K. Dick Award and several others and recently had a trilogy optioned for film, The Dark Talents: At the Table of Wolves.

Her newest fantasy series is The Arisen Worlds quartet. Book 1, The Girl Who Fell Into Myth, Book 2, Stranger in the Twisted Realm, Book 3, Servant of the Lost Power and Book 4, Keeper of the Mythos Gate. "A story of powers and magic on a grand scale.” —Louisa Morgan, author of The Secret History of Witches.

Her acclaimed 4-book series, The Entire and The Rose, has been reissued with new covers: Bright of the Sky. Called "a splendid fantasy quest" by The Washington Post.

She loves to hear from readers, and you can contact her at http://www.kaykenyon.com where you can also sign up for her newsletter.

Reviews

[Kara-karina · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5/5

I couldn't help it, guys, I loved this book! It was a little bit strange, atmospheric and at times really beautiful. A bit like The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins?

A Thousand Perfect Things was a curious mix of genres, a little bit of new-Victorian alternative historical fiction with a dash of fantasy, maybe? Whatever it was, if you enjoyed A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan and Pantomime by Laura Lam, this has a slightly similar feel to it.

What really charmed me is this lush, exotic, full of spice and rich with history and tradition Bharata. Bharata is of course just another name for India, which sluggishly confronts a more upbeat, morally rigid and technologically advanced Anglica (England) with the help of its mysterious powerful magic and religious superstition.

Tori Harding is a young naturalist and adventurous explorer, who is dying to make a name for herself to be admitted in the elite and purely male circle of scientists of Anglica. For this she would have to find a legendary Golden Lotus, which is supposed to gift knowledge to anyone who would touch it.

The gist of this rich and wonderful book is Tori's transformation. Bharata changes her among constant political intrigues, riots, spiritual journeys, sorcery and a lot of violence. Tori starts by selfishly looking for something that belongs to Bharati, and while she is thrown into a deep end of the pond and forced to sink or swim, she frees herself from physical and mental boundaries, and this is why I truly liked this book.

There are secondary stories of Captain Muir-Smith, his sister Elizabeth and or course an ill but mysterious Bharati prince Jai, but they guide and support Tori. Even her feelings for Muir-Smith and her entanglement with Jai leads to it.

I just... *sigh* ...don't want to get into details, but let's just say, this book charmed me in a sly, eccentric and quiet way, and that's why I wholly recommend it to you.

[Ron · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Equality is the call of the new age. We must live side-by-side, with fewer distinctions and more compassion.” “That man isn’t your equal and can’t be held to your standard. Surely you admit that.” “Indeed, I do not.”

Jane Austen meets Jules Verne meets E. M. Forster. The story slowly morphs from being a novel of manners into an indictment of British colonialism. Fantasy of the Guy Gavriel Kay sort, merging gently with the natural world.

“The occupants of the zenana had no modesty.” “Why would they? Sex is worship.” “Extraordinary.” “Do you not pursue enlightenment when you abandon the self to sexual annihilation?” “Well, not in Cornwall!”

Well done, though Kenyon’s characterization is less gripping than Austin’s. But that’s a high bar. The Gandhi character is perhaps more complex than its inspiration.

“The longer I’m here, the more I am swallowed by your world. I love your world.” “I think our world loves you.”

Quibble: Sadhus’ magic has limited range, yet krakens and other magical manifestations appear far from any sadhu. Convenient for the story, but …

The sadhu smiled. “You may call me baba. Magic need not contend with science.”

Follows the pattern of modern writers positing science as superior to western religions, but inferior to eastern religions. By removing Islam from India, Kenyon simplifies the internal dynamics.

“She knew the old pull, not just of natural history, but of life, longing to be a deeper red.”

[Jenn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not entirely sure what I was expecting when I read this book, but it certainly isn't what I got. Kenyon's writing was extremely enjoyable -- she is very descriptive, and paints a gorgeous picture for the reader. However, that's about as far as I can praise this book.

While I understand this is meant to be an "alternate history" it seems as if Kenyon used the term in order to get away with her lazy concepts of Anglica (England) and Bharata (India). I found myself constantly rolling my eyes at the stereotypes Kenyon employed as a way to add an exotic flair to the Bharatais. When I think of alternate histories I think of authors like Harry Turtledove who skillfully balances historical fantasy and historical reality. All in all I honestly feel this is more of a fantasy book than an alternate history tale, and should be marketed as such.

In addition the plot suffers from Kenyon's attempts at providing Tori with romantic interests. Both Jai and Edmond seem aloof suitors at best, and I never was really sold on their romances. It detracted from the story and from Tori's character who is otherwise this really intelligent and brave young woman whose true love is her scientific research. I wish Kenyon would have focused on one genre (either romance or alternate history) rather than providing the reader with a poor blend of both.

[Bryan Thomas Schmidt · Rating 4 out of 5]

World building and characterization are top notch. The setting jumps to life off the page. Astoria Harding is a compelling lead and she captures you so much for the first 2/3rds of this, that you can't put it down. But when her emotional arc peaks, it seems the book does too. I found the ending to feel like an overly long denouement, even though a lot happens. It just felt anticlimactic to some stuff which came before. That's my only complaint about an otherwise exceptional read.

[Kurt Springs · Rating 5 out of 5]

In an alternate world, with an equivalent of the British Empire in India, Kay Kenyon as spun a tail of science and magic. Astoria (Tori) Harding is a woman wishing to be a scientist in a world mimicking 19th Century England, where woman are rarely allowed to become scientists. She travels to the Indian realm to find the Golden Lotus and finds a world of intrigue, suspision, and hatred.

Kay Kenyon has woven a fascinating, magical tale of choices and consequences

[emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review abridged from Plenty of Pages.

I want to start by saying that this book surprised me. I've never read anything by Kay Kenyon before, so when I got the ARC of her newest book I didn't know what to expect, and my reaction was mixed.

Grief does things to you. It's a weird alchemy that takes root in your mind when you lose someone-- some features of your life become less important, or perhaps only seem to do so as you become listless or depressed or angry. But the opposite can also happen, a calcifying of thought and focus into a diamond-edged intent that takes no prisoners. This is what happens to protagonist Tori in the wake of her beloved grandfather's death: the dross of her life seems to melt away, leaving her with only the truly important things. She's determined never to let herself be trapped into marriage, and she vows she will find the mythical golden lotus, the magical holy flower her grandfather had come so close to finding on his travels abroad many years before.

So I was having feels, as they say, which was half of what kept me reading. The worldbuilding was the other half-- it's strange and whimsical and a tiny bit problematic, all of which made me instantly curious to see where it would go. While this novel reads like many other British Victorian travelogues, A Thousand Perfect Things takes place in an alternate universe with two continents: Anglica, the colonizer, the fantasy Great Britain where science rules all and logic prevails; and Bharata, the colonized, the India allegory where magic and mysticism still hold sway, where ghosts and monsters are as real as lions, tigers and bears. Tori is in some ways a typical quirky heroine-- in a Victorian society, a brainy woman in love with botany (and born with a club foot to visibly mark her as an outsider just in case her intellectual pursuits left any doubts) and in love with her grandfather's idea that science and magic could be studied, not as two opposing disciplines, but side by side in a composite way of understanding the universe. I wondered if she would be predictable, or if the cautious sympathy I felt for her through the first few chapters would remain. Happily, it did.

Now, I'm not saying that Tori is the most original heroine ever, but she's familiar in a comfortable way, and Kenyon mostly sticks to following Tori's emotional journey in her storytelling, pursuing what she sees as the fulfillment of her grandfather's legacy. But following that path also allows Kenyon to talk about the legacy of racism and cultural appropriation in Bharata. Through Tori being forced to confront the fact that Sir Charles stole the lotus petal from its home in Bharata, and the repercussions that action had on the people who had viewed it as sacred, I couldn't help mulling over the concept of cultural theft and privilege. I thought about The King and I and its more realistic and savvy movie counterpart Anna and the King. I thought about Midnight's Children and that blog post on xoJane where the comments blew up over who's allowed to wear bindis. It was weird-- not what I'd expected from a book that looked quite innocent of agenda on the outside.

There's a lot of murky territory in here-- the narrative itself is a good adventure with a lot of food for thought, but in the end what's the message? Tori's foot gets healed by magic and she becomes a mystical "chosen one" when she decides to stay in Bharata-- what does that say about physical disability and heroism, and why isn't the chosen one of Bharata someone who was born in Bharata? And ultimately none of the Bharati were characterized with the same depth and texture as Tori (though if I'm honest, most of the secondary characters were less than vivid) leaving me to wonder why this story was told from the point of view of a white girl. I understand that the thrust of the story, the culmination of that emotional journey, is Tori finding a place where she feels like she belongs, a place she feels safe. It's okay that Bharata is that for her, I just would've appreciated a more nuanced portrayal of how she got there.

On the other hand, I'm always swayed by good writing, and a big part of what made me like this book was Kenyon's language. She writes Tori's voice with that cool ethereal tone I associate with Jane Eyre and her contemporaries, noticing every detail of the world around her and her experiences in it, painting a beautiful picture that's just a little bit remote. And in the end I liked Tori herself a lot. She was real and strong and interesting, and vivid enough to carry the entire book, even in spite of the other critiques I have.

This is a book about giving up expectations, and about legacy. A legacy can be physical or intangible, a small object or a big idea, and A Thousand Perfect Things deals intimately with both. It was a fun read, and gave me a lot to think about. I'd recommend it with the caveat that if race and cultural appropriation are issues you care about, you might find the book somewhat troubling. But it is a beautiful story, beautifully told. There's something to be said about reading a book that shocks you by speaking to the hard, painful thing you're going through, just when you need to feel like you aren't going through it alone, and if for no other reason than that, I'll always remember A Thousand Perfect Things with fondness.

[Lauren Scharhag · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review can also be found on: http://urbanfantasyland.net/

“. . . should a thousand perfect things ever be found, the world would end. Therefore to preserve the world, Rama declared that every manifested thing should have a flaw.”

Such is the crux of A Thousand Perfect Things, the latest novel by award-winning sci-fi/fantasy author Kay Kenyon—a sweet irony, since Kenyon has brought us a flawless work. Rich, complex and sweeping in scope, it takes place across two continents and features acts of war, magic, tenderness and revelation.

Chiefly a work of speculative fiction, this is also a study of postcolonialist themes. Kenyon presents a re-imagining of the mid-19th century where only two continents exist: Anglica (England) and Bharata (India). For years, Anglica has imposed western culture on mystical Bharata. That means having the Anglic language, schooling system, Christianity and rationalism imposed upon them, pushing out their native culture. Meanwhile, the Anglics are ruthlessly mining Bharata of its abundant resources. Resentment is already strong among the oppressed people of Bharata. When the Anglics install a bridge thousands of miles long across the sea to link their two continents together, tensions reach the boiling point. The Bharatis launch a series of terrorist attacks against Anglica.

The book opens with just such an attack. Here’s where the fantastic comes in—the terrorist attack by the Bharati priests is to magic a bunch of metal lion sculptures into attacking a bunch of Anglican citizens from half a world away. Pretty neat trick, and a mere sample of the Bharati priests’ power. The Anglics scoff at the magic of the Bharatis, falling back on the explanation that the Bharati magic is unchristian—unfortunately for the Anglics, that don’t make it any less real.

Against this backdrop, we are introduced to a young woman named Astoria Harding. Tori, as she is affectionately called, is in her early 20s, and regards herself as a hideous cripple because she has a club foot. Girls who grew up liking bright, no-nonsense and talented heroines like Jo March, Hermione Granger and even Lisa Simpson should appreciate Tori. Ever since Tori was a little girl, she has assisted her grandfather, Sir Charles, celebrated botanist and a member of the scientific Royal Society, in his greenhouse. Once, Sir Charles traveled to Bharata and brought back a single petal from the mythical nelumbo aureus, a golden lotus of untold power. A single petal does not convince his peers that the flower exists, and Sir Charles is dismissed as a crackpot.

Tori’s dream is to follow in Grandpapa’s footsteps, to become a great botanist, to be the first woman admitted to the scientific Royal Society. But above all, she wants to prove the golden lotus exists and restore her grandfather’s reputation. After her grandfather dies, she sets out on a perilous journey to Bharata to find the lotus.

Meanwhile, a mysterious agent of the Anglic government has also been dispatched in search of the lotus, and the people of Bharata would keep such a treasure secret from the white interlopers.

For me, Kenyon does everything that I think a good author is supposed to do. This book is beautifully written, thrillingly original. The characters are fully developed and three-dimensional. I found the pacing unhurried and deliberate, giving the reader ample time to explore the two factions, east vs. west, mysticism vs. science, though some may find it a bit slow.

Everyone in the tale has ambitions, and you know what they say—the road to hell is paved with good intentions. There is Tori’s desire to complete her grandfather’s work. Her sister, Jessa, is in search of a husband and has set her sights upon Captain Edmond Muir-Smith, who, incidentally, is in love with Tori. Muir-Smith has been dispatched to Bharata to help quell the brewing rebellion. Edmond’s cousin, Elizabeth, travels to Bharata to open a school, to save those poor backwards coolies from ignorance and lack of hygiene.

In Bharata, the priest Mahindra serves the rana, Prince Uttam, and leads the magical attacks upon the Anglic people. Mahindra dreams of a Bharata free from Anglic rule, as well as all the provinces of Bharata united under a single ruler. The rana has two sons, the ruthless Sahaj, always accompanied by two white tigers, who wishes to ascend the throne sooner rather than later; and Jai, considered the unmanly son because he is afflicted with hemophilia.

No one achieves what they set out to achieve—or, at least, they get very different results than they had anticipated. Our flaws exist to keep us firmly rooted in the here and now, and sometimes, it’s difficult to tell just what is our strength and what is our weakness. Had it not been for Tori’s club foot, she might have been like Jessa, interested only in catching a husband. Had it not been for Jai’s hemophilia, he might have been the one to develop a cruel nature. Furthermore, it is our flaws that teach us to strive at all for something better, and in depicting this, Kenyon’s work achieves a sort of allegorical power.

[Stacey · Rating 3 out of 5]

e-Arc provided by NetGalley.

In an alternate world where a familiar nineteenth-century England (Anglica) builds a sea-spanning Bridge that makes crossing the kraken-filled waters to a recognizable India (Bharata) safer and more expedient, young Astoria (called Tori) is determined to find the Golden Lotus, a mythical flower that her grandfather discovered in Nanpura, across the Bridge. She is club-footed and scholarly, having spent her time with her grandfather, a student of the natural world. Nanpura, a province in Bharata, is the home of Mahindra, a Bharatan sorcerer who is also determined to find the Golden Lotus - for his own purposes. He harbors hatred for the Anglicans, who have conquered his homeland and imposed their own culture over his. He orchestrates Tori’s arrival and subsequent search by arranging for her father to be posted in Nanpura, and to take his family with him. Unknown to Tori and Mahindra, the Anglican government also plans to use Tori to find the mythical flower - in order to further subjugate the Bharatans. And the plot thickens.

Tori, young Captain Muir-Smith, the younger prince of Nanpura, Mahindra, an old gardener who knew Tori’s grandfather, and an officer with the intelligence services, all play a role in the story and narrate the plot at different times. Bharata is almost a secondary character, with lavish descriptions of the jungle, of its people, its spirits, and its society.

At times the characters felt a little flat slash uneven - for example, for the entire first half of the novel, Captain Muir-Smith is a one-dimensional Hero. In the latter half, he gains a bit of depth and character. Tori and Mahindra experience dramatic changes in outlook as they learn from each other. As Tori moves in and begins to understand Nanpura, she discovers that the Anglican perspective is and has been harmful to Bharatans, and that she has behaved in the same way. She is also interesting for her unconventional outlook and her bravery.

Tori is really a vehicle for the real story - about two lands and two cultures that clash in the name of “Progress,” when Bharata is invated by Anglicans. This tale of colonialism at its worst is also a tale of conflict between magic and science. In Anglica, science rules, while Bharatan society revolves around magic and spirituality. It is also a tale of independence, as Bharatans struggle to remove the Anglicans from their homes, and as Tori searches for the Golden Lotus and for independence from the restrictive Anglican society that will neither let her be a scholar, nor fully accept her, since her foot is deformed.

The world-building was really a highlight in this novel. The magical India introduced here provides a mystical, lush, and dangerous background for the interpersonal and intersocietal conflict that drives the plot. Magical practices conform to implied rules, making it believable.

At times the plot was thin, and seemed disconnected. So many threads and narrators, loosely woven together, made it difficult to follow the pattern. By the end of the novel, I was unsure why some elements had been introduced, and how others fit into the larger plot. At the end, there is sort of a rash of happenings that drag the tone of the novel into the “dark” category, which was definitely a surprise, given the way it started. Yet, the resolution of Tori’s story suits her character and development, and I found that resolution satisfying. Overall, this was an enjoyable read, and I will check out other works by this author. Recommended for fans of alternate Victorian history and magical fantasy.

See my blog for a read-alike.

[dearrivarie · Rating 4 out of 5]

*I received a copy from Edelweiss for review. All opinions are 100% my own.*

Initial Review:
This book is all different types of confusing and fascinating all rolled into one. The story definitely dragged on more than I expected and there were multiple moments where the plot could have just ended but it kept going.

Full Review:
This book was both frustrating and amazing. I talked about how I struggled so much with coming up for a rating for this book in my January Wrap-Up and I avoided writing this review for that reason. When I was reading this book, it felt like the story just dragged on for ages. The plotline is definitely something that takes time to build and before you know it you're completely hooked. The best way for me to describe this is a book with relatively slow writing but a handful of jaw dropping moments that I was not expecting.

As far as characters go, they took some time to get used to. I was just unprepared for she sheer amount of spies and interconnecting plots of politics that occurred so that became a bit confusing. After almost a month of brooding on this book, I still can't say if I love Tori. You learn to admire her drive and curiosity for Bharta but other than that I didn't really connect with her on a deeper level. Jai on the other hand, is hands down my favorite character in the entire book and has definitely made it to my list of book boyfriends for 2016. He's well learned, compassionate, and overall an amazing person.

Unfortunately, this book does contain some sort of a love triangle but it doesn't overpower the storyline which I definitely appreciated. Edmund is a well known captain and originally started off as a suitor for Tori's younger sister, but he became drawn to Tori's passion. I do like the separately as characters, but I'm definitely on Jai's side when it comes to this triangle.

Moving away from characters, I absolutely adored the world. Kay Kenyon has this way of writing that just grabs your attention. I loved the two countries of Anglica and Bharta because they are just so different and it allows you to see how magical Bharta is. Anglica has more of a rigid society while Bharta just overflows with magic and colors. Needless to say, while Bharta definitely seems like the more dangerous of the two, I would choose to visit there over Anglica in a heartbeat.

The writing is probably the only dragging factor in the story, but once you get into the story it just keeps you interested for the whole ride. I distinctly remember the 65% marking on my Kindle as being one of the most heartbreaking scenes ever and I have no doubt it's going to stay with me. This book just has that magical impact that makes it so incredible and mind-blowing.

Read my reviews at:
http://extreemeobsessed.blogspot.com/

[Jennie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book caught me unexpectedly off guard several times. I felt like Sebastian in the Never Ending Story because I would look up from the book and think, "No way! Did that really just happen?" with this shocked look on my face. In the beginning, as the story unfolded, I thought I might know exactly how this book was going to go. But it didn't. Thank goodness for that! (Though at times I did predict the plot bomb coming, but that's ok too, because I was wrong on some of them.)

The heroine has a club foot and has basically been shunned by society, so she turns her full attention to studying the natural sciences under her grandfather. She devotes herself to following in his footsteps to complete his life's work. I really love how the author allowed the heroine to still find herself attracted to men in her acquaintance and struggled with trying to be logical about her future with men. It exposed a vulnerability that can come across as whiny and desperate if not done well. Kay Kenyon did it well!

This book is such a mix of genres. (fantasy, science fiction, alternate historical fiction, parable, action/adventure) All of these rolled up into one! It even covers the topic of parallel universes! The only thing that I can say I didn't enjoy was the jarring effect that happened sometimes where you are switching genres. Sometimes I was in this magical place, then was yanked out because now it was an action book, then thrown back into the magical mysticism of a parable. (Though it wasn't told by Jesus, but I would still consider it one.) There were also times that it was very heavy in one genre. Such as when battles take a long time to get through.

Anyway... all in all this was a book a I really, really enjoyed. So many unexpected things happened that I didn't see coming. So many tough choices to watch Tori make. I would even say it was very profound. It was a treat!

[Brendan Mancilla · Rating 5 out of 5]

When a novel like A Thousand Perfect Things comes along, it behooves readers to stop and take notice. Kay Kenyon's self-described first foray into fantasy isn't simply an alternate-world take on Anglo-Indian relations, it's a literary triumph that stands upon a dozen universal themes to reach its obscenely successful heights.

At the heart of this book is the theme of duality, explored in the dichotomies of magic and science, white and brown, good and evil. The novel's central protagonist, Astoria Harding is the apprentice to the age's most accomplished botanist—who also happens to be her grandfather. When he dies of an unexpected sickness, Astoria and her family leave their homeland country of Anglica and take up residence in the spiritual and untamed country of Bharata.

Bharata seethes under the yolk of Anglican oppression, and despises the marvel that is the Bridge that connects the two countries. Astoria seeks the legendary golden lotus in hopes of joining the ranks of famed scientist but her journey leads her into the arms of mutiny—both internal and external.

Kenyon is victorious in establishing a world that, while somewhat familiar to our own, is different enough that we readers remain entranced. Astoria's exploration of many challenging questions—who am I? What am I meant to be? Can I change my fate?—leads to as many challenging answers.

This is a novel that celebrates the many; and not the few. It venerates the notion that there are many paths through life and that anyone seeking only one is doomed to fail.

It is my recommendation to anyone seeking quality, fascinating, and transformative literature that this book land at the very top of your list. A Thousand Perfect Things is a novel whose ending is one of sweet sorrow—we are saddened to part, but glad for the dalliance.

[Henry Lazarus · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kay Kenyon borrows from the Sepoy rebellion and of a young Victorian woman who discovers A Thousand Perfect Things (trade from Premier Digital Publishing ). There are only two continents in this world, England and India and England has built a thousand mile bridge between them. Astoria’s Grandfather was a famous explorer who brought back a cutting from a golden Lutus that he and Antonia think will allow the scientific society to consider working the wht Magic of India. Her grandfather dies and her parents destroy the manuscript he and Tori were wor4king on. Tori considers herself unmarriageable because of her club foot. Then a series of events including magical attack on England sends Tori across the long bridge to India and the very Provence where the Golden Lotus is hidden. She doesn’t know she is being manipulated by the Rajah and his magical advisor. But there’s a spirit helping her and her new lover, the rajah’s son who has hemophilia. Then the Raja’s other son kills his father and sends India to war. The Golden Lotus cures her lover, but nothing goes according to plan and Tori is caught between what she feels her duty to India and her duty to her native country. This is an intense tale about the plight of women in the nineteenth century and conflict between science and magic. It’s fun and absorbing.
Review printed in the Philadelphia Weekly Press

[Dee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book on my Kindle app in late-night-can't-sleep snatches over a three week period. I kept forgetting the characters, but the way I read the book might have a lot to do with that. I never found myself thinking about the story the next day, but there again—late night snatches. Still, if I'd have enjoyed it more it wouldn't have taken me so long to get through it. I did think it was imaginative but it just never really grabbed me. To be fair, I probably should have read it in book format during daylight. But I didn't.

[Dee · Rating 5 out of 5]

A little slow to start but well worth the effort. Kay Kenyon has wowed us all again with her vivid world that could have been with a twist! Please take the time to read this lovely tale!

[Joel · Rating 3 out of 5]

A well written and creative book that never quite grabbed me.

[The Speculative Post · Rating 4 out of 5]

What really drew me to this book is that there isn’t a lot of Steampunk (or even pseudo-Steampunk) that deals with the conflict of cultures of 19th century England and India. Perhaps this is because much of these conflicts are missing from the American consciousness: America is very good about only being aware of what America does and ignoring the rest of the world. The United States didn’t have colonies in India, so we don’t talk about the British Colonization of India. A brief background for those of you who didn’t take too many history classes in college (Wait…can you take too many?): the subcontinent of India has a lot of natural resources, ranging from lumber, cotton, and exotic spices (ex: saffron and pepper), gem and precious metal mines, and more. Before the large advances in sailing technology during the Renaissance (1425-1600 A.D.), luxury goods from India reached Europe primarily through the Silk Road trade networks, which was painfully slow and expensive. Sailing technology added shipping trade routes reaching from India (and China), around Africa, and up to Europe. This was faster and less expensive. The Renaissance also saw a huge jump in weapons technology in Europe, and with that many European countries went on a colonization spree. Why pay for things you can effectively steal with a gun? England targeted India with the East India Company, and set up garrisons and trading houses all over the place. This is not similar to the colonization efforts seen in what we now know as the United States, Canada, and Australia. These colonies were for a small group of British (mostly army and merchants) to subjugate the local populace to further British interests, not to settle, work the land, and become little Englands. As you can imagine, the local populace didn’t really appreciate being subjugated to foreign rule by a people who didn’t see the locals as equals or really much more than savages. But wait! Couldn’t India just kick them out? There are a lot more Indians than there are British, right? Except that at the time these colonizations started, India was subdivided among many different royal families, not a single government like it is today. The East India Company conquered some princes, bribed others, and intimidated more. And so a period of roughly 250 years of European vs Indian tensions boiled away.

The core theme of A Thousand Perfect Things is that cross-cultural tension, with Tori Harding, our protagonist, coming to question what her people, the Anglics, are doing in Bharata (India) and whether her people have any moral right to do what they are doing. Mixed in are the ideas of whether science and magic are polar opposites, or actually two different ways to understand the same world. This theme isn’t as well explored as the first, but it leads to a lot of conflict for Tori personally. I don’t know about you, but themes that deep and heavy make me excited. Don’t get me wrong, I love my fluffy sword and sorcery or paranormal romance, but my true love are stories with some heft to them. There’s heft here, although Tori doesn’t find any good answers or resolution to her conflicts. This book is messy in the way that life is: no good choices, no good answers, and a lot of things that will forever be left unfinished. So if you like clean endings with a happily-ever-after-ribbon tied into a neat bow on the end...this is not for you.

One of the triumphs of Kenyon’s characterizations is the fact that the Anglics and Bharati so clearly see each other as separate, and aside from Tori, refuse to interact with each other as much as possible. They lie to each other, take advantage of each other, and purposefully ignore chances to promote cross cultural understanding. The Anglics have been given all of 19th Century Britain’s less flattering qualities of self-important perceived superiority. They only speak to the Bharati when they must because the Bharati are so obviously unimportant and uncivilized. Even the sepoys who have chosen to work for the Anglics and participate in Anglic culture will never overcome their unfortunate birth. But of course, the sepoys and other Bharati will always remain loyal to Anglic rule, as the Anglics are so obviously superior. Needless to say, the Bharati seethe and chafe under this treatment, and don’t trust the Anglics who are so obviously here to take advantage of the Bharati. And who respects someone who doesn’t respect you? The characters in both cultures perfectly encapsulate this. Tori moves between the two because she speaks Bharati, is Anglic, and has knowledge of a mystical flower both cultures want to control.

There was one downside to this book for me: it’s a little odd. We have England...but not. We have India...but not. Both are still very true to their counterparts in our own history, which played out very nice in terms of worldbuilding. However, the rest of the world is functionally missing, which was strange. There are things that don’t match our own world. For example: while it is technically possible to ride an ostrich, it’s not something you’re going to do for long periods of travel. Ostriches also don’t natively appear in India, but in Africa. Which doesn’t exist in this alternative world! This bothered me to no end. Horses are more native to India than England, so why do the Anglics get horses but the Bharati don’t? (I may just be odd that such things bother me.) As we start moving toward the climax of the book, the plot hits a number of points where it could go one way...but it doesn’t. It even knew it could go that way, but some small pebble in the stream diverted the flow just enough that the plot missed a way for it to resolve. There’s also that the magic system here is deliberately left almost totally unexplained. You get the basics of it...and literally nothing else. The Bharati would get upset with Tori for not understanding, and I wanted to shout at them, “But I don’t understand, either!”

That being said, this downside was far outweighed by the fact that A Thousand Perfect Things is a masterfully written work. Kenyon’s prose is beautiful, her worldbuilding fantastic in every sense of the word, her characters fully fleshed out and real, and her willingness to take chances (and make those chances succeed) admirable. This is a relatively small book at 292 pages, but Kenyon covers a lot of miles very well in that time.

For traditional book shoppers, this book has one major flaw: it’s not published by a traditional publisher. Premier Digital Publishing specializes in e-books and print on demand. While A Thousand Perfect Things is available in trade paperback, it’s going to be easier to find online than on the shelf in your local indie store. Happily, the print version is priced competitively at industry standard prices, not the upcharge many small digital publishers charge for print copies, and most local stores are happy to special order books for you.

You can read this review and more at our website,

[Patrick St-Denis · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you have been hanging around these parts for a while, then you know that I'm a big fan of Kay Kenyon's The Entire and the Rose science fiction series. If you haven't given Bright of the Sky, A World Too Near, City Without End, and Prince of Storms a shot yet, you need to put them on your wishlist ASAP!

Hence, when the author's new publisher got in touch with me to inquire whether or not I'd be willing to read and review A Thousand Perfect Things, of course I agreed! I was curious to see if Kenyon could somehow imbue a stand-alone work with as much magic and wonder as her latest series.

Here's the blurb:

Kay Kenyon's The Empire and the Rose was hailed as "a star-maker", "a magnificent book", "audacious", and "the most ambitious science fiction epic of the current decade", garnering starred reviews and comparisons to Larry Nivens and Stephen R. Donaldson.

In this epic new work, the award-winning Kenyon creates an alternate 19th century; two continents on an alternate earth: scientific Anglica (England) and magical Bharata (India.)

To claim the powers of the legendary golden lotus, Tori Harding, a Victorian woman, must journey to Bharata, with its magics, intrigues and ghosts, to claim her fate, and face a choice between two suitors and two irreconcilable realms.

It is 1857. After millennia of seafaring, and harried by the kraken of the deep, in a monumental feat of engineering Anglica has built a stupendous bridge to Bharata. Bharata's magical powers are despised as superstition, but its diamonds and cotton are eagerly exploited by Anglic colonials. Seething with unrest over its subjugation, Bharata strikes back with bloody acts of magical terrorism.

Despite these savage attacks, young Tori Harding yearns to know if Bharata's magics may also be a path to scientific discovery. Tori's parents hold little hope for her future because she has a club foot. Therefore they indulge her wish to have instruction in science from her famous botanist grandfather, even though, as a woman she will be denied a career in science by the male-dominated scientific societies. Though courted by a friend of the family, Captain Edmond Muir-Smith, Tori has taken to heart her grandfather's warning not to exchange science for "married slavery."

Emboldened by her grandfather's final whispered secret of a magical lotus, Tori crosses the great bridge with her father's regiment and Captain Muir-Smith. In Bharata she encounters her grandfather's old ally, the Rana of Kathore, his rival sons, and the ancient museum of Gangadhar, fallen to ruin and patrolled by ghosts.

In pursuit of the golden lotus, Tori finds herself in a magic-infused world of silver tigers, demon birds and the enduring gods of Bharata. As a great native mutiny sweeps up the Rana's household, her father's regiment and the entire continent of Bharata--Tori will find the thing she most desires, less perfect than she had hoped, and stranger than she could have dreamed.

The worldbuilding is, sadly, a bit generic. The alternate history versions of 19th century England and India are somewhat déjà vu and don't capture the imagination the way various locales and concepts did in The Entire and the Rose. That was a disappointment, for the inventive worldbuilding was definitely one of the most captivating aspects of the series. I believe that the strictures inherent to the writing of a stand-alone novel precluded the sort of depth that made The Entire and the Rose so special. Mind you, I'm not saying that there is no depth to A Thousand Perfect Things. Far from it. It's just that the limited page count appears to have prevented Kay Kenyon from opening up and from writing a more sprawling and evocative narrative. As a result, the themes and the concepts often feel quite underdeveloped, which in turn robs many of them of the anticipated sense of magic and wonder we have come to expect from the author.

The characterization also leaves a little to be desired. For some reason, I was unable to connect with any of the protagonists. Which, understandably, made it a bit difficult to maintain interest throughout the book. Tori Harding feels more than a little clichéd, although I must admit that Kenyon has a few surprises up her sleeve where her main character is concerned. In Bharata, Jai, Mahindra, and Dulal are interesting in their own ways, yet they fail to truly convey all the magic and intrigue of the exotic continent and its people. And even when the POV is that of one the characters witnessing the brewing mutiny in Bharata, somehow Kenyon didn't manage to make any of them, on both sides of the conflict, particularly engaging.

The pace is also an issue from time to time. Too slow in certain portions of the novel, while rushed in others. The culmination of the storylines dealing with the search for the mysterious lotus flower is decidedly anticlimactic and subsequently sort of kills the rest of the tale. The resolution takes too much time to transpire, and both the build-up and the ending fail to cap off the book with the sort of aplomb needed to bring everything to a satisfying ending.

The underlying themes of sexism and the emancipation of women were not explored with enough depth to truly flesh out Tori, something that would have added another dimension to this work. In addition, the often heavy-handed anti-colonialism/anti-imperialism spiel can be irritating. Had it been woven seamlessly within the tale itself, it would likely have worked much better in the greater scheme of things. All in all, A Thousand Perfect Things is a good read, but nowhere near as fun and fascinating as the four volumes which comprise The Entire and the Rose.

For more reviews: www.fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com

[KathyStroh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had a hard time believing in the world created in this story. But I ended up really loving many of the characters including Tori, and I found the story to be very engaging.

[Gary · Rating 4 out of 5]

(This review also appears at the Court Street Literary Collective at www.courtstreetliterary.com)

Kay Kenyon’s A Thousand Perfect Things is similar in some ways to Susanna Clarke’s 2004 novel Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. It takes place in a slightly askew, alternate, but recognizable reality, and it involves magic, though perhaps not the kind of magic we might expect.

In Kenyon’s nineteenth century, Anglica (a version of England) is ruled by King Albert, and Bharata (India) is one of his colonies. Astoria (Tori) Harding is a young Anglican girl who is interested in science above all else—botany in particular—but she knows that her patriarchal society will never allow her to be a part of that world. Still, she’s decided to follow the research of her grandfather, Sir Charles Littlewood, a scientist most interested in finding the Golden Lotus, a Bharatan flower with supposed magical properties.

Among other things, Kenyon uses the story as a way to explore the troubled relationship between our own world's England and India, but in her version the differences are more pronounced than in our world. Here, Anglica is ruled by science, while Bharata is known for magic. Real magic. Mystical priests take on the forms of animals and create beasts to terrify and attack their enemies, inflicting terrorist attacks called contagions on the populace of Anglica.

The journey begins. Spanning the space between Anglica and Bharata is a bridge, a marvelous feat of modern Anglican engineering. It’s never made quite clear what the precise geography is between Anglica and Bharata, other than that the journey is a long and dangerous one, "a thousand miles, and all on pontoons," crossing kraken-infested waters. Most of the story takes place in Bharata, where Tori and her family have traveled to the province of Nanpura so that her father, a colonel, can take a military post.

Other than Tori, one of the most interesting characters in this story is Mahindra, a Bharatan priest who holds deep resentment for the Anglicans and who, in fact, has arranged for Tori’s coming to Bharata in hopes that she might find the magical flower her grandfather saw years before. Mahindra straddles the worlds of magic and pragmatic politics, serving as a liaison between the rulers of Bharata and the magician priests, the sadhus, who accomplish magic by undergoing austerities and inflicting pain upon themselves. When Kenyon writes from Mahindra’s perspective, she reveals some of the most fascinating facets of this mythical world she’s created.

There’s also the Golden Lotus, which is this story’s near-McGuffin. I say ‘near’ because although there are stated reasons for characters wanting the flower, they’re never really made clear: Tori seeks it because of her grandfather and because she wants to find a middle way between science and magic, Mahindra wants it to help drive the Anglicans from his land, and it turns out that the Anglican government also seeks it to try and use it to control the Bharatans. As far as the actual origins, powers, and purpose of the lotus, however, we’re only given glimpses, which of course, serve to make it more enigmatic.

There’s a bit of romance here as well--Tori is alternately in and out of love with Captain Edmond Muir-Smith--though it takes an understandable backseat to the primary story, Tori’s quest to find both the Golden Lotus and her purpose. And while the romantic entanglements, misunderstandings, and conflicts may seem at first to be the same old fare we expect from Victorian (or Albertan?) epics, that’s rarely the case.

This book will certainly appeal to fans of alternate history and modern fantasy, and it's a good novel. Though it starts a bit slowly, once it gets going, it moves at a quick pace and moves into unexpected places. It’s also clear that Kenyon has devoted a lot of thought to her world-building, and this one ends up being a world that would be worth visiting again. As with some of the other stories of this type, we sometimes get the impression from what Kenyon tells us about this world that there is much more she’s not saying.

Could this lead to sequels or more stories set in the same universe? Who can tell?

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anglica, an alternate version of Victorian England, and Bharata, the Indian sub-continent, are in the midst of a cold war with one another. The Anglicans are using new technology to promote their imperialistic policies. Meanwhile, the Bharatans struggle with rules imposed on their society that they don’t want, or understand. As this war escalates, people on both sides are searching for enlightenment; the Anglican’s using science and reason, the Bharatan’s using mysticsm, spirituality and magic. These opposing ideologies are what form the backbone to the story in A Thousand Perfect Things.

Astoria ‘Tori’ Harding is an engaging protagonist. Living at a time when women were expected to be nothing more than wives and mothers, she dreams of something more. The strong relationship she has with her grandfather has created an independent young woman who is determined to live her own life. Her natural inquisitiveness and determination feel palpable on the page, and I found myself rooting for her to succeed. Tori won’t let anything get in her way. Her disability, her gender and her place in society are all against her but this just makes her that much more determined to prove herself anyone equal. She has given her entire life over to scientific study and believes the only way to come to any sort of resolution to the conflict is to find the direct link between science and nature.

Alternate history can be a tricky business. It’s all about trying to find the delicate balance between including just enough factual detail to make things feel authentic, against a fiction that entertains. This is where Kenyon’s writing really excels. There are a plethora of tiny little details, sometimes just throwaway lines, that make the novel come alive. Nothing is missed, everything from the slight difference in the lives of Victoria and Albert to the Anglican’s on going trouble with those bothersome Picts. I haven’t even mentioned the potential pitfalls related to travelling over the sea bridge and random kraken attacks.

Using the historical events of the 1857 Indian Mutiny as basis for the novel, Kay Kenyon has added a rich additional layer of detail to her story. With each new chapter there is a growing sense of tension. The civil unrest within the Bharatan populace against their Anglican ‘masters’ eventually boils over into a fully-fledged rebellion.

There was just one thing that struck me as a little odd. There is a particular conversation between two characters, one is arguing with the other, and there is a phrase used that just didn’t seem to fit. A quick Internet search confirmed it was about one hundred years too early for its use. This miss-step was a little jarring, but in fairness it was a one off. Up until that point, and afterwards, the conversations between all the characters came across as pitch perfect for the era.

This is the first book I’ve read written by this author and I was suitably impressed. It manages a good job of being many different types of tale all at once. Kenyon has created a story that is part steampunk adventure, part alternate history and part magical fantasy all woven together in a single reassuringly comprehensive narrative. There is something here for every taste.

[Kritika · Rating 3 out of 5]

This review can also be found on my blog, Snowflakes and Spider Silk.

I enjoy alternative histories and fantasy novels, and as an American anglophile of Indian origin, this book seemed like it was written for me! I can safely say I liked this novel, but it wasn't as good as I hoped or expected it to be.

The story is set in an alternate world that is separated into two main regions - Anglica, the seat of science and logic, and Bharata, the region of mysteries and magic. As in our own world, Anglica has attempted to colonize and "civilize" Bharata, although to little success. The story follows Tori, a spirited Anglican woman with a club foot, as she ventures to Bharata in search of a mythical plant that would bridge the gap between science and magic. Her grandfather once found and took a clipping of this mythical thousand-petaled golden lotus; Tori searches for the same flower in hopes of furthering her scientific career and discovering enlightenment.

I really liked Tori as a main character. She was very loyal to her grandfather's vision and worked to pursue her own dreams instead of societal expectations. Her club foot is almost a blessing in disguise, because it makes her "unworthy of marriage" and thus free to pursue her own scientific inquiries. I thought it was interesting how she could be logical yet open to magic and spirituality. She was also a very strong character who fearlessly spoke her mind and followed her heart.

I also enjoyed the storyline for most of the book, since it was both a journey of self-discovery for Tori as well as a story of political intrigue and cultural awareness. The ending got a bit convoluted, though, and after all the chaos of revolution, I thought Tori's choice in the epilogue was rather anticlimactic.

And now to the aspects of the book that made it a little less enjoyable. There were a lot of Indian words in the book, and I was familiar with many of them, so this didn't bother me terribly, but I felt like someone who wasn't familiar with them would find certain phrases hard to understand. There were also cases were these words were spelled in a nontraditional way or misused (spelling rani as ranee and jalebi as jellabie; calling someone yuvraj prince instead of simply yuvraj , which already means "crown prince").

A stronger annoyance was that both cultures presented in the novel seemed very stereotypical. The Anglicans were very prim and proper, and their speech patterns were stilted to the point of being laughable at times. Bharata also fell prey to the usual sexualization of eastern cultures. I had to keep reminding myself that Bharata was only loosely based on India (a point the author makes clear, so thank you for that) in order to keep myself from getting really offended.

While I thought this book had an interesting and original concept, I didn't think it delivered as much as it could have. It was still a fairly enjoyable read though.

*An ARC of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a difficult novel to define - it's a fascinating mash-up of old-fashioned adventure and fantasy. While it didn't quite captivate me on every level, it's left me wanting to know more about this world and some of the characters who inhabit it.

The plotting is generally pacy and manages to combine the enjoyable predictability of an adventure story with unexpected twists. The 'hero's journey' narrative that Tori follows provides a satisfying structure for the subplots to be played out against. I loved the main character's unconventional attitude towards Victorian sexual mores and the reaction of the people in her life to her personality and actions. Supporting characters are thinly but effectively drawn. The dialogue captures the slightly formal tones of 'Bharati'; this formality does reduce the emotional impact of some of the scenes but creates a vivid atmosphere.

Some aspects of the plot could have been developed in more detail, though. Jai's haemophilia is a crucial plot point but I would like this to have been more completely developed. Until a critical point in the narrative, he never has any issues with his condition, which dilutes the tension that could have been created. I felt that his feelings about his disability and his subsequent status as 'less than a man' could have been explored in more depth. I was also a little disappointed in the depiction of the politics of the world, which seem overly simplistic, with obvious villains instigating violence rather than the simmering tensions between the factions being explored.
This is a challenging setting to use for a novel because of the obvious parallels to British-occupied India. Although we are given the viewpoint of some Bharati characters both sympathetic and villainous, racial stereotypes and orientalism are not completely avoided. With the primarily 'Anglic' protagonists and Tori's emergence as a mystical, special, 'chosen one' it strays perilously close to 'white saviour' territory. I was also uncomfortable with the equation of 'Anglic' culture with science, reason and restraint; and 'Bharata' with magic, superstition and sexual abandon. Surely a fantasy novel could be more original in its scope and move away from stereotypes? And the use of the term 'mutiny' to describe the uprising of Bharata people against the colonial Anglics is suggestive of what used to be referred to as the 'Indian Mutiny'; whether this is deliberate of not, it is an anachronistic and politically incorrect term that privileges a colonial viewpoint.

I'm not quite sure what to make of the bridge, which joins two distant continents and takes months to cross. It seems such a fundamentally impractical and improbable conceit but I couldn't help loving it for precisely that reason. Something so surreal in the middle of an otherwise unremarkable setting was weirdly appealing.

So I would recommend this with reservations. It's an entertaining read which combines familiar and original elements with variable results.

[Jemima Pett · Rating 5 out of 5]

How to categorise this book? An alternative world fantasy where H G Wells meets the Raj Quartet, with a touch of steampunk and Sharpe. It’s a clash between science and mysticism; a treatise on colonialism and an imaginative mix of culture, politics, love and duty. There are only two continents in this world, Anglica and Bharatha, and they have been joined by a monstrous 1000 mile bridge, or pontoon, on the ocean. Wondrous engineering, yet this world appears to be pre-steam age.

Astoria Harding, known as Tori, has been schooled by her grandfather in scientific method. It is her great ambition to be accepted into the Royal Society – a gathering of eminent scientists, all men. For this is Albertian England of the 19th century, and a woman’s place is married and in the home. Albertian? Yes, a little note says his wife died young and King Albert mourns her deeply… in our world, of course, Prince Albert died young and Queen Victoria mourned him deeply.

Tori was working with her grandfather on a theory about the legendary Golden Lotus and its properties, following his search for it in Bharata years earlier. She takes on a quest once he dies, to continue his work and publish a paper, thus impressing the Royal Society.

Her father, Colonel Harding, is appointed to Bharatha to help promote relations between Anglica and the Bharathan princes. Of course, the family goes too, along with the regiment, and a suitor, Captain Edmond Muir-Smith. On arrival, Tori and Edmond are invited to the Prince’s fort at Kathore, where Tori mingles with the royal family and experiences manifestations and apparitions while she searches the abandoned library, scene of her grandfather’s work in the past. From there, Tori’s desire to find a scientific answer to what she sees in Bharatha takes her on a journey which changes her, literally and metaphorically.

The combination of scientific method and mysticism is beautifully done. I loved the way the two cultures are juxtaposed and Tori has to make sense of them, while her local escort sees only the futility of her need for reason within the metaphysical. Tori’s story twists through a larger story of cultural clash and rebellion; both the politics and the armed conflict are well handled. The writing is full of tension and excitement on many levels. If this sounds too deep, it is not, but fully rounded, well-described and extremely readable.

I want to say so much more about this book. It flows from one nearly familiar world to another with extraordinary beauty and captivating pace. The style combines the formality of writers such as John Buchan or Arthur Conan Doyle with the descriptive magic of H P Lovecraft. It wasn’t what I expected from the blurb when I started reading it, but it turned out to be so much more.

I received a free review copy from the publishers as part of this blog tour in return for my honest review, but I might just buy my own copy – in paperback. It’s stunning, and I’m sure I’ll read it again. A story to savour.

Best Read of 2014 award

[Graculus · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Thousand Perfect Things - Kay Kenyon In a world full of trilogies (and longer) a stand-alone novel is a pleasant surprise and there is lots to like about A Thousand Perfect Things.
 
Firstly, its setting: a world very much like our own, in Victorian times, except that the main two countries (Anglica and Bharata) are able to be connected by the Bridge, a massive pontoon structure that means a lengthy march rather than a dangerous expedition by ship allows Anglica to send soldiers and supplies to their 'allies' in Bharata. In Bharata itself, it's a time of upheaval, as princes who rule small territories are forced to make a decision about how to deal with the newcomers and what they will allow (or be forced to allow) them to do.
 
Secondly, the use of magic: Anglica is very much all science, so when magic is used to attack the very centre of government, they are at a loss to deal with it. There's a very clear science-magic divide, with magic being seen as the realm of the uncivilised, with no attempt to understand or appreciate it. Magic in Bharata is a terrible thing, in the basic sense of the word - it's a thing that evokes terror, brought about in a significant part by self-sacrifice, including the shedding of blood and what are described as 'austerities' (for example, starving yourself to power small protective magic on others).
 
The plot of A Thousand Perfect Things is centred on the search for a mythical giant lotus, once seen by our protagonist's grandfather and also now sought by the spiritual advisor of one of these Bharatan princes. Our protagonist (Tori) is a woman in a world made for men; wanting to be a scientist but held back by virtue of her gender, she is desperate to go to Bharata and find the lotus, to prove her grandfather right about its existence and also seeing it as the key to scientific acceptance. The other main character (Mahindra) wants to use it to unite the people of Bharata behind his prince, seeing the presence of people from Anglica as a threat to everything they consider important.
 
This is one of those books which I liked parts of, but which in the whole doesn't quite work for me. We see Tori make a significant change in terms of her views towards Bharata and its people over the course of the book, but then in the end she is happy to throw them over for a man - the man in question, for me at least, signifies everything that she has run away from her entire life and yet suddenly he's what she wants? Hmm.
I also wasn't overly keen on the magical cure for Tori's disability (she has a clubfoot at the beginning of the book), which is used as a way of showing she has been touched by the gods of Bharata. Meanwhile, I actually found Mahindra the more interesting character, especially as he realises partway through that his plans have started to come partly true, but at a terrible cost.

[Rocky · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would call this fantastical realism set in Victorian times. The world in the novel was slightly altered, having only two continents (Anglica and Bharata) with a bridge joining them. The book provides wonderful imagery, strong female characters, brilliant ideas and suspense. A perfect escape from the worries of the present.

[Gaele · Rating 3 out of 5]

In an unusual story, Kay Kenyon has written an alternative history that finds two countries at the center of this universe. The first is Anglica or England that is very comfortable for a western reader, and while some aspects of society are overly stereotypical, it is easily recognizable as a country that is based in science and logic, with spiritual elements being consigned to backrooms if not entirely scorned in society. The second country is Bharata, most closely related to India, and is a country where the spiritual and the magical are not only the norm, but are wholly accepted and proof of the why is not necessary. Again, some elements are also overly stereotypical, and the author chooses to integrate words into the text of the Bharata side of the story in a mix of phonetic and actual spelling or using a phrase on top of its English equivalent which made for some ponderous moments and could cause confusion.

This is most importantly the story of Astoria (Tori) Harding, a Victorian-era woman who pays little mind to societal conventions for women of her time. She has a disability, and is also determined to make her mark in the scientific community as a botanist. Her dream is to follow her grandfather’s belief that there is a point at which the scientific and logical can and do exist and thrive with the spiritual and magical. Off she goes to adventure in Bharata – and the story gets wings and just flies.

Kenyon has written an unusual tale, and presented a series of events that are guided or affected by the overly stylized descriptions of the countries in which she has set the action. Essentially this reads as a treatise on the destructive nature of colonialism and the societal generalizations and stereotypes that allowed those systems to take root. While the action and the story is very tied to Tori and her search, the surrounding elements, the inclusion of a mystery, the political intrigue and the varying levels of difficulties that Tori encounters as she travels or explains her beliefs all seem to fill the story with a more politic bent, pointing out mistakes from both sides.

While a beautifully written story that manages to provide plenty of questions for readers, the ending of the book felt rushed, where there were pacing irregularities in the earlier chapters that left many unanswered questions that were relevant to only this story: especially the lack of explanation about the multiple deaths. It was not a quick reading book, although it was engaging and entertaining, and I would be interested to see more from this author.

I received an eBook copy from the publisher via Edelweiss for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.

[Anna Tan · Rating 5 out of 5]

From this holy place he decided that should a thousand perfect things ever be found, the world would end. Therefore to preserve the world, Rama declared that every manifested though should have a flaw.

Astoria Harding has a tragic flaw. Her club foot has prevented her from participating in the many feminine pursuits of the day - dancing, socialising, finding a husband - so her grandfather, the renowned botanist Sir Charles Littlewood, has trained her in scientific methods and inquiry, nurturing in her an unnatural desire to follow in his footsteps. Tori's passions have been inflamed by the Nelumbo aureus, the holy thousand-petaled golden lotus from Bharata, seeing its discovery and documentation as her way into the men-only Royal Society. Her father's posting to Bharata and her chance to visit the famed Gangadhar Mahal seems fortuitous but soon proves to be a nest of intrigue and manipulation by the Anglics and the Bharatis, both alive... and dead.

Set in an alternate 19th century filled with magic, the social mores of the time seems evident throughout the book: white Anglica is the scientific, progressive continent; brown Bharata is the uncivilised, barbaric spiritual continent, ripe for Anglic exploitation and pity. It's also a time of uprising and rebellion, with the Bharatis fighting for their independence and the Anglics (some of them at least) coming to realise that Bharata is not theirs to conquer and keep. It seems that opinions and attitudes are changing for the better. I would like to think it was a well-written, nuanced view of colonialism and the interplay between England and India (with magic added in), but in some ways, there is still a tinge of White Saviourism to it: the Rana is weak, tempted by Anglic science whilst the Ranee lives in an opium dream; Sahaj is petulant; Jai needs Tori to lead him; the only person who knows the way to the Golden Lotus (a symbol for hope? liberation? holiness?), albeit guided by a Bharati spirit, is Tori. Tori herself becomes a legend - for what else is there for a white woman in a brown land?
The only Bharati with independent agency seems to be Mahindra, the sadhu.

Yet despite all this, which you don't actually think about until you start to analyse the book, A Thousand Perfect Things was a very satisfying read. Like the Golden Lotus, it blooms in hidden places, catching you unawares with its beauty. It's a journey through hidden walkways and dark caves to promises of light and liberation.

Note: I received a digital ARC of this book from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

[Abbie F. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have always been a huge fan of both historical fiction and fantasy, so when I picked up A Thousand Perfect Things by Kay Kenyon and realized it combines my two favorite genres, I couldn’t wait to keep reading.

Astoria Harding is not considered a normal young lady by the standards of society in 1857 Londinium, Anglica. Instead of wishing for a husband, she spends her time learning about the natural sciences from her Grandpapa and longing to make a scientific discovery that would get her inducted to the Royal Society. When her family has to move to Bharata (a land full of magic and mysticism), Tori undertakes her Grandpapa’s legacy to find a magical giant, golden lotus that is rumored to exist there. Little does she know, Bharati forces as well as the Anglican government also want to find the lotus, and both sides will do whatever it takes to ensure they find it first.

This book was right up my alley for a number of reasons, the first of which is Tori herself. She is funny and clever and stubborn and someone it was really easy for me to relate to. Even though the book takes place almost 200 years ago in fictional versions of London and India, Tori has many of the same dreams and insecurities of girls today. She strives for intelligence and discovery when the norm was for girls her age to strive for the richest husband. She’s also incredibly sassy and full of attitude in a society where everyone was expected to be polite and well-behaved. She’s a rule-breaker and a dreamer and a thinker and a great role model.

A Thousand Perfect Things also had a great blend of history and fantasy. I love reading books about Victorian England and high society, both of which you get in this book. You also get magic, mythical beasts and other supernatural beings and events. The combination creates an intricate and fascinating world that is full of magic and fantasy and at the same time seems like it really could have existed. Kenyon does a great job of weaving historical accuracy and imagination to create an amazing book.

There is also a wonderful, slow-burn romance woven throughout the length of the book. READ THE FULL REVIEW AT THE DAILY QUIRK!

[Melanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This review is part of my weekly review of books. Available here

http://qwillery.blogspot.co.uk/2013/0...


I will however, tell you about A Thousand Perfect Things by Kay Kenyon. I didn't know what to expect when I started this book. I hadn't read anything else by this author. I got the book from the lovely people at NetGalley and I became instantly gripped. The story is set in the late 1800's in a steampunk version of England - referred to Anglica and moves quickly to Bharata (India) where the young, aristocrat, Tori, searches for the 'golden lotus'. Tori hopes to follow in the footsteps of her grandfather, who is a renowned scientist, by becoming the first woman to be admitted into the the Royal Society for finding and documenting the golden lotus. Anglica is rich but resource poor with a love of science whereas, Bharati is rich both in resources and in magic but where people are poor and deemed by the Anglica's to be uncivilised. Those in Tori's world shun her belief in magic but she is determined to find the flower of the gods and prove the existence of magic. Betrayal, political revolution and forbidden love are all in store for the intrepid, budding scientist. I really enjoyed A Thousand Perfect Things. I read it quite quickly, despite the interruption. I thought that Kenyon was very clever in her depiction of Bharati. It was very colourful and you could almost feel the heat and smell the rich, pungent spices. There were distinct parallels to the British rule of India over the period and their desire to rid themselves of foreign rule. While I thoroughly enjoyed this book it did have some minor faults. I felt latter part of the book was rushed. There was one specific scene where one of the characters just died without really any explanation of how they were killed. Then at the very end nearly a decade passes one scene and the next and it felt a bit contrived. On the whole I liked this book and thought it was a great depiction of two intriguing worlds.

[Barbara K. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story takes place in an alternate reality, a world in which there are two continents, Anglica and Bharata, one being similar to England of the mid-nineteenth century, and the other similar to India of the same time period. Anglica's culture revolves around science and religion, while Bharata's revolves around mysticism and magic. The protagonist is Tori Harding, a young Anglican woman from an upper-crust family who has a disability that she and others believe will prevent her from ever marrying. Her grandfather is a scientist who takes her under his wing and teaches her nearly all he knows of botany, in the hope that she'll fulfil a dream of his, that of finding the legendary Golden Lotus, which is believed to be located inconveniently in Bharata, in the region of Kathore, possibly the most unfriendly place to Anglicans on the Eastern continent.

I found the story intriguing, in spite of finding a need to put it down for a while a quarter to a third of the way in. It depicts such a strange world - even the Anglican side seems otherworldly to me - that I found I wasn't in the mood for it for a few days. But when I picked it up again I was hooked and read it through to the end, completely entranced.

If you don't mind a little romance, a little on-page sex, some violence (a major battle takes place in the story, and in another chapter an all-out massacre, though both are tastefully presented and not at all gratuitous), and if you don't feel that the timeless problem of "east meets west" is already overdone, then you may very well love this story.

At the same time the story intrigues, it also seems to ask potent questions about colonialism, materialism and superstition, and whether science and spirituality can ever find a comfortable meeting ground. It also takes a feminist slant, which I found appealing. But these are all interwoven very well in the story so they don't stand out at all as preachy or out of place. They are in fact the whole point of the story, and it's very well told.