The Mysteries Of London, Volume 2

by George W.M. Reynolds (Creator)

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Genres: Classics, Mystery, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Horror

442 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1844

About the author

George William MacArthur Reynolds was a journalist and, as author of "penny dreadful" serials, one of the most popular authors of Victorian England. He was also a leading proponent of the working-class Chartist movement for expanded suffrage and other populist Parliamentary reforms.

During his lifetime, Reynolds greatly outsold Dickens and Thackery, and on his death, he was described by The Bookseller as 'the most popular writer of our times'.

Reviews

[Dorcas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Volume One was a five star read for me and volume two started off in the same vein, but gradually I lost enthusiasm. I think that 1) it just went on too long (each volume is 1,000 pages) 2) the baddies were hellishly bad and the goodies were superhumanly good and accomplished which became a little much.
And yet there are some really good storylines here.
Bottom line: read for closure on book one. but book one is still best.

[Marquise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sigh... This turned out to be unexpectedly a series that fell from a very high pedestal the first book had taken it to because of a poorly handled second book. If I'd been impressed by and praised Reynolds' notable balancing of multiple narrative arcs and a cast of characters fit to challenge a troop leader, this sequel has proven to me that it's near impossible to keep such a huge number of balls up in the air without dropping one or two, but it takes a special level of carelessness to drop most of them or all of them.

Not that the author dropped all the balls he was juggling, not at all. Just enough of them to make this second volume a disappointment and an annoyance to those who had appreciated the quality of the story in the first volume, and weren't expecting to be hit in the teeth with a lesser continuation. To sum up the issues that make this an unsatisfactory follow-up, it was that:

1. The story became excessively long, with entire chapters that were nothing but descriptions, monologues, and dogmatic preachings on the author's part about his philosophical and political leanings. There was some of this in the first book, but in so small quantities that it wasn't irksome.

2. The number of characters got out of hand. The first volume ended with new characters introduced near the end of the book, and I thought it was an isolated case. But no, more and more characters are introduced, some of them for roles so small that they weren't worth the expense in printing ink, and others that were nothing but "walking cameras." Besides the superfluous temporary and small-role characters, there were new major secondary characters that were in just to introduce a new storyline that was totally unnecessary and only served to pad up the book, making it fatter.

3. Black-and-white characterisation finally won the field against the more nuanced characterisation from the previous volume. The existence of very good Goodies and very bad Baddies isn't a problem so long as they're making sense within their respective contexts and counterbalanced by grey characters. Here, however, the Goodies became even more good and the Baddies even more bad; and to make this extreme more noticeable, the greyness was evened out and got rid of, so that all characters were either black or white, and no longer in-between.

4. For a story whose entire point is "to show all the mysteries of London," this second volume has the main character, Richard Markham, spend a considerable portion of the novel in a foreign country, on a detour that frankly defies all willingness to suspend disbelief. Another major character, Eliza Sydney, was also absent from London since last book, and remains so for a good portion of this second book. Likewise, the excuse for keeping her out of the country was an adventure that was anything but believable.

5. Believability was given the death blow here; what started as a realistic, gritty and gutsy story became a bundle of mawkishly sentimental theatricalities. There were a number of too-convenient-for-plot's-sake coincidences and occurrences in the first book, but in this one they're taken to the next level and thus become too much. There's too many instances of Deus ex machina as well, and developments that are simply ridiculous and not credible. For example, Richard deciding to be a part of the invasion to Castelcicala to oust their tyrannical Duke and restore to the throne the father of the woman he loves, becoming the leader of the revolution through a series of baffling and unbelievable events, and eventually getting the title of Prince by marriage as reward for his fairy tale heroics. Sorry, you lost me there.

6. The conclusion to the redemption arc for Eugene's Cain to Richard's Abel was, to be blunt, utter and complete garbage. Oh, how I wish those dogmatic holier-than-thou Victorian writers were more like the Russians and learnt to tell a good redemption story like the gods intended to. And moreover, that they understood that death isn't redeeming by default. "Vice is punished and virtue rewarded," indeed! My sides...

No, Mr Reynolds, virtue didn't triumph because Richard and the other Goodies were virtuous, and the Baddies weren't punished because they were vicious. They were rewarded and punished respectively because you went into a Reverend Preachy P. McPreachily mode and forced non-credible plot twists and unnatural developments so you could prove your point and write that cliché epilogue phrase I quoted above. And in the process you ruined one of your most interesting characters, in my opinion. In fact, the only natural "reward" (or rather punishment) for conduct and deeds exhibited for the duration of the story was what befell the Colonel Cholmondeley-Sir Rupert-Chichester trio of degenerates, and only because they got what was coming to them as a natural consecuence, a clear cause-and-effect case, of their latest chicanery. The rest was as forced as it could be.

Well, at least there were still some very good parts, and there was definitely closure even if the ending wasn't to my complete satisfaction. And I get to brag that I was right about what had become of Eugene Markham. I'd guessed the truth early in the first book, so I can't say it was too big a disappointment.

[Leothefox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my God, the Conclusion! Did you want to know what happened to everybody? Here it is!

Richard Markham's date to re-unite with his long lost brother, Eugene is the carrot dangling for his entire drama, and so the story races towards 1843, and the conclusion of several arcs. There is almost too much here to coherently review. This is me finally getting to part 2, five years later!

Going in, I'd read reviews of this book which made it clear it was the lesser of the two halves, and some that condemned it for straying from London in parts. I was actually afraid these conclusions would be mine as well when we got into Italy and Richard Markham's struggle against a fascistic baron, but Reynolds didn't allow these digressions to spoil the show. I was also afraid at various early points that we had indeed seen the last of The Resurrection Man, but he is in there for the long haul.

Volume 1 was the book that made me an incurable addict of the “penny dreadful” medium, and it remains one of my favorite books, so Volume 2 had a lot to live up to!

My one nagging complaint about the first book was Cecelia and holy man, Reginald Tracy, but the drama that results in the sequel really makes it all worthwhile. The liaison is discovered, resulting in a murder, resulting in an innocent girl on trial for murder! This gets tied up with the public executioner, his hunchback son, and a secret that may involve the Markham family!

I mentioned digressions, and while they both serve purposes in the story, the larger is the one that results in Richard being known as The Prince of Montoni, for the better part of the book. Italy in the 1840s was a fragmented place, not one country, but many, and so Richard's cause is for a single Italian province—the same that Isabella's father is from. Now, while I can appreciate that the inclusion of this fits in with Reynolds' purpose in showing virtue as a thing to be rewarded, the execution is somewhat imperfect. The story as a whole is loaded with drama and suspense, and horror aplenty, but the battle of Montoni is conveyed in a detached manner for the most part. It may well be that the romance of the Italian setting is too far outside of Reynolds' long suit of unveiling the broken strata of London.

The second thing which one might term a digression still serves a real concrete purpose in a story that partly exists to reveal the iniquities of the English justice system, for this part concerns Cranky Jem and his recounting his “transportation” to the English penal colonies in Australia. The reader is favored with detail of the hellish conditions which prove far worse than any English prison. It goes on, covering escapes and punishments, and while it is almost as far from London as one could get, it is also integral to Jem's thirst for revenge against the man who sent him there: The Resurrection Man.

Greenwood is also here, and constantly scheming to rebuild failing fortunes, some of which are depleted by treachery. Greenwood illuminates other realms of crime for the reader and serves as a contrast for Richard Markham, since one is guided by virtue and the other by pure selfishness. He ends up trapped into a marriage with Ellen, with strange and mixed results.

We are also introduced to the sad life of Lydia Hutchinson and her struggle from youth with Adeline, a girl who managed to pass off her own unwed miscarriage as Lydia's and start the ruin of her reputation. The tables are eventually turned when Adeline is Lady Ravensworth and Lydia is able to force herself into the household as a domestic. In fact, Ravensworth Hall becomes the focal point of several dramas late in the book, including whole where Eliza Sidney functions as something like a Victorian detective, working to foil a murderous plot.

The last 200 pages or so are set after a time gap of 2 years, but this does nothing to halt a steady flow of drama and crime.

George W.M. Reynolds is in many ways the king of the penny dreadfuls, and here are a few reasons why: we a plague ship, disguises, the decline of a gambler, the tactics of confidence men, a full nauseating portrait of everything that went into English alcoholic drinks in the 1940s, murder, torture, warfare, a libertine and his harem of “exotic” women, secret identities, blackmail plots, family secrets, splashy suicides with brains dashed out, an undertaker who is always advertising, a sense of the execution business, multiple prison breaks, a corpse buried twice and then disinterred to horrific dramatic effect, people posing as ghosts, the annihilation of a family stemming from an old sin, the Zingaries and Morcar, escapes to America, youthful street gangs, a dummy used to practice hanging, a breakdown of the old slang, and an attempted regicide on no less a person than Queen Victoria.

It is easy enough to make fun of the language and values of a work from 1840s, even as progressive a one as this, and some instances of exoticism and ethnic portrayals were destined to age poorly, but this is a work of and for its time. The point is that most of the lessons here still hold true, and the earnestness of the telling is infectious. In a genre made famous by half talented hacks, Reynolds towers above the rest with a genuine belief in what he is writing and a faultless talent for entwining the fates of his characters.

London may never have been more real than it was in these mysteries.

[Profdave · Rating 5 out of 5]

For the Victorian novel aficionado --this book, along with Volume I has it all. The style is quintessentially Dickensian, but Reynolds is more explicit about the social taboos of his age.

And his advocacy of democratic socialism is pretty clear. He pushes the envelope in social criticism, with no holds barred. A gem!

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many thanks to author Sarah M. Eden for hosting a read-a-long for this penny dreadful (volumes one and two!) during this pandemic.

Volume One: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLCOe7M9sZY&list=PLJvZ8-yLB2ATXCt-Mg_p5behnueXkA6FS&index=2

Volume Two: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0UzNRYl1nM&list=PLJvZ8-yLB2ATm15yL3-ZSi9UbeP1eTrOO

Without this reading available online, I would not have discovered and had the privilege of learning this story with its' many twists and turns. After 259 chapters, I am so happy to see how everything turned out and was resolved (even though one character did not get the ending I wanted for him). I'm happy to have completed the story and discovered the resolution to this lengthy story!

[Laurel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good ending- well, actually, it hardly felt like an ending. Usually, in the second half of a story, you expect a wrapping up. For much of this volume, however, that did not seem to be the case; characters were introduced, intense scenes were had, and new mysteries were uncovered. Overall, it was enjoyable, though perhaps a little too dark at times. These two volumes were long, taking nearly two years to listen to (by the way, Sarah M Eden does a fantastic job narrating them on YouTube), and after I finished I felt a little lost- what was I supposed to listen to and be left in suspense by now?!
The writer did a fantastic job at keeping his story consistent, in writing style, tone, and story. As always, the hero of our story was an extremely good person, though the villain was not quite as bad as he had been in the past. Much character development was afoot. I would indeed say that the author met his goal. Wealth and poverty were contrasted; virtue and vice received their fair portions; and London's Mysteries were revealed.

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume continued right where volume one left off. I was not happy with how the story ended, but I guess the ending was typical for the Victorian era and the penny dreadfuls. A penny dreadful was written in installments in the 1800's and was sold for only a penny. I can only imagine how anxious people were, waiting for the next installment to come out in a story. I still gave this a four star rating, though, because I can't imagine how difficult it would be to keep track of so many characters and storylines. I probably enjoyed the first volume a little better, but of course this volume wrapped everything up. New characters were introduced in this volume as well. To read both volumes, there are 260 chapters, or installments, total. Some are really short and others are really long. Sarah Eden has youtube videos posted of herself reading these installments. It was really interesting and something I looked forward to.

[Mark Phillips · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm reviewing both volumes here. George W. M. Reynolds' answer to Eugene Sue's The Mysteries of Paris is pure Victorian melodrama. Released in small pieces (weekly at a penny) in The London Journal from 1844-1846, the novel is best read in the same way, a little at a time. Chapters are usually about seven pages long, so a chapter a day for the full 259 chapters would take just about 3 years to finish. I finished in about a year and kept detailed character profiles as I read to keep everything straight. Was it worth that investment of time? Definitely, yes. A cross-dressing heroine, the evil Resurrection Man, scandals, true love, good women forced into prostitution, revolution, political corruption, counterfeiters and card sharks, duels, contract killings, secret identities, and cliffhangers galore. I had a blast. If you like Dickens, you'll like this.

[Cooper Renner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surely much about this book is unbelievable: credulity-straining coincidences and the heartfelt repentances of thoroughly disreputable characters. But it’s still a rollicking and frequently touching tale, kept from five stars only by Reynolds’s insistence, in three cases, of interrupting the main flow of the tale with the lengthy (I’m tempted to say interminable) back stories of three secondary characters. The back stories fit the general theme of vice over virtue, but work against the narrative as art.

[Isca Silurum · Rating 2 out of 5]

In the end too much circumlocution to fill issues.

That said, it is what it is, an issue based tale to make money for the writer.

It would be interesting to read an actual novel by the author.

Not surprising a big seller of its day though!

[Brittany Bowers · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rather long. But I'm very happy to know the ending to the first volume.

[Cydnie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you, Sarah M. Eden, for sharing this series over the past ten months. I appreciate your time and dedication. It has been a fun ride.

[Gillian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Goes on a bit.....

[Gilbert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Murders, kidnappings and seductions and substories and the horrors of poverty in London are all brought to light in this penny dreadful.
Both volumes took six months, along with other reads, so be prepared to spend a lot of time.

[Robert burke · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Mysteries of London, vol. 1and 2, was the biggest book I have ever read. Well over two thousand pages. Took me about a month to read, and I enjoyed the book. George Reynolds is a better Victorian author then the "scholars"give him credit. Villains, heroes, prisons, romance, war, mystery, melodrama, it has it all.