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Department of Unclassified Artefacts #1
Le collectionneur de la mort (Les affaires non classées t. 1)
Lorsque Eddie « Pickpocket » Hopkins vole le portefeuille de George Archer, il n’a aucune idée qu’il vient d’entrer dans un univers obscur de voleurs de tombes, d’assassins et de zombies. Car George Archer n’est pas un citoyen ordinaire. Il vient tout juste de se faire offrir un emploi au Département des artefacts non classés du British Museum, un département qui fait enquête sur le bizarre et l’inexpliqué. Dans le portefeuille de George se trouve un indice se rattachant à l’un des plus grands mystères de tous les temps; un secret
dissimulé depuis des millions d’années.
Fuyant pour sauver leur vie, Eddie et George joignent leurs forces pour échapper à un génie dépravé ― un homme qui a besoin du secret pour réaliser un plan terrifiant. Aidés du redoutable Sir William Protheroe et de l’actrice Elizabeth Oldfield, ils se retrouvent dans une course formidable contre le temps! Une course pour dénouer le secret avant que Londres ne soit envahie par des créatures de la mort…
dissimulé depuis des millions d’années.
Fuyant pour sauver leur vie, Eddie et George joignent leurs forces pour échapper à un génie dépravé ― un homme qui a besoin du secret pour réaliser un plan terrifiant. Aidés du redoutable Sir William Protheroe et de l’actrice Elizabeth Oldfield, ils se retrouvent dans une course formidable contre le temps! Une course pour dénouer le secret avant que Londres ne soit envahie par des créatures de la mort…
249 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 20, 2013
About the author
Justin Richards
314 books242 followersJustin Richards was a British writer of science fiction, fantasy, and adventure fiction. He wrote science fiction and fantasy novels, including series set in Victorian and early 20th-century London, as well as contemporary adventure stories. He was best known for writing numerous spin-off novels, reference books, and audio plays based on the long-running BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who. Richards served as Creative Consultant for the BBC Books range of Doctor Who novels until 2017.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 139 reviews
March 3, 2018
What more can you ask for but Victorian England, steampunk dinosaurs, and a mad scientist? Maybe a little bit more of a coherent beginning and smoother initial introduction of characters? I chose to read this book because 1) I own and have read the second in this trilogy and 2) thought I should experience this series in its entirety, rather than simply diving in half way through.
Justin Richards has managed to scalp a gripping tale of intrigue and mystery while also failing at some of the most basic techniques of novel construction. As a book aimed at a slightly younger audience I was frustrated and exasperated at the confusion the opening chapters afforded me and couldn't grasp how someone in the original demographic would feel.
Having said this, however, my experience with this book was overall a positive one. And I cannot say anything but, 'what an interesting start to 2018.' From what I can recall of the second book: The Parliament of Blood, it was just as much a miss-match of adventure, fun and rather dark middle-grade fantasy. All-in-all, a solid three-star start to the year - here I am to hoping it will only get better.
June 4, 2011
There's one misstep in this book, and it happens fairly early on. I'll try to be vague to avoid spoilers. The identity of the Big Bad is kept secret from the characters, and presented as a secret to the readers, roughly 100 pages longer than it would take the vast majority of readers to figure it out themselves, and well after the characters should have done so for themselves. Those 100 pages have more than one incidence that made me cringe at how slow the characters apparently were. What's odd is that it's totally out of character, not only for the ones in the book, but for the author. The only other Big Reveal moment was as big of a surprise to me as it was to the characters.
But after that is done, I really can't think of anything in the slightest negative to say about this book. The action was nicely paced and spread out. The science fiction elements were... science fictiony. I won't say they were plausible, but they were written well enough that it didn't matter to me. I've added the other two books in the series to my list. To be honest, I actually read this, the first book of the series, because I was interested in the second book.
But after that is done, I really can't think of anything in the slightest negative to say about this book. The action was nicely paced and spread out. The science fiction elements were... science fictiony. I won't say they were plausible, but they were written well enough that it didn't matter to me. I've added the other two books in the series to my list. To be honest, I actually read this, the first book of the series, because I was interested in the second book.
January 8, 2015
This was a strange book in several ways. First, the book, published by Scholastic, features Victorian-era characters in their late teens, making the target age something of a mystery. Second, the book had all the elements to make for a great story (steampunk-augmented-reanimated dinosaurs!) but it never quite came together for me.
The first chapter was one of the best, most engaging opening chapters I've read in a long while. Subtle, understated, with an amazing twist... and it ended up having precious little to do with the rest of the book. In fact, it was, arguably, unnecessary.
The pacing at the end was moving at a fine clip until the author started a chapter by back-tracking the events of two of the main characters, catching us up with what they'd been doing for the past fifteen minutes. It was an unnecessarily jarring transition that was, again, unnecessary, and pulled me completely out of the story.
The final trying-to-be-humorous moments of the story fell flat, as a result, making me more glad to see the end of the book than anything else.
The first chapter was one of the best, most engaging opening chapters I've read in a long while. Subtle, understated, with an amazing twist... and it ended up having precious little to do with the rest of the book. In fact, it was, arguably, unnecessary.
The pacing at the end was moving at a fine clip until the author started a chapter by back-tracking the events of two of the main characters, catching us up with what they'd been doing for the past fifteen minutes. It was an unnecessarily jarring transition that was, again, unnecessary, and pulled me completely out of the story.
The final trying-to-be-humorous moments of the story fell flat, as a result, making me more glad to see the end of the book than anything else.
May 18, 2018
"Something is happening that may challenge our understanding of the scientific world. And, with your help, I mean to discover what." (Sir William Protheroe)
I last read The Death Collector about eight years ago. When I recently, saw it while I was organising my bookshelf this year, I couldn't remember what The Death Collector was about and how I felt towards it.
After a re-read, I now know that The Death Collector is a Steampunk novel set in the Victorian Era. There's museums, mysteries, danger, dinosaurs and zombies. While, I love Steampunk, history and mystery, I'm not a fan of zombies. There's something about the undead that's predictable, gross and gory. In The Death Collector there's also the Department of Unclassified Artefacts, a department in the museum, that deals with unexplained events that have no place in modern history. The department is an extremely interesting aspect of The Death Collector and it's not given much page time to shine.
The one thing that The Death Collector has going for it, is its atmosphere. I was transported to a Victorian London that was experiencing the Industrial Revolution. There's soot, mist, fog and gloom. There's also an eerie tone that suits the gore and horrors that take place in The Death Collector.
I didn't care much for the characters. The two main characters, George and Eddie are bland. I expected Eddie, a 15 year old pickpocket to be more interesting. I do, however, appreciate Liz's character. She's a strong and independent woman, but she still behaves in a way that typical of women in the Victorian Era. I also have to admit that the wannabe Victor Frankenstein villain in The Death Collector is extremely diabolical. My favourite character in The Death Collector is Sir William Protheroe. He's an old man who is calm in the face of the most panic inducing moments.
The mystery aspect in The Death Collector is lacking. I don't know if the villain in The Death Collector is supposed to be a surprise, but the villain's identity is revealed quite early in The Death Collector However, I guessed who the villain was and what their motives were, long before it was revealed. It was extremely frustrating to figure things out way before the main characters did and watch them fumble in search of answers.
The Death Collector has such amazing concepts such as history, museums, mystery and dinosaurs, but the execution falls flat. I expected more from The Death Collector.
"The best way to break the spell, he knew, was not to think about it but just do it."
June 23, 2010
What does an old diary, a walking dead man, a monster, a pickpocket, an actress and a museum employee that repairs clocks all have in common?
They are all involved in a mystery novel for young adults.
George a museum employee is on the search of who killed his co-worker over a bunch of old diaries that were donated to the British Museum. When his friend was killed the diaries were caught in a fire and all that is left of the last diary is a burnt scrap with a few words on it. So with this clue and his friend dying words he is trying to figure out why someone would kill to get their hand on this volume.
Meanwhile there are rumors of a dead man that came home to have tea with his wife and to walk the dog. When they go to investigate someone or something has dug up his grave. So when they get permission to dig it up to see if the body is still there they are shocked to find the body. But the body does not appear as it should......His bones have been replaced with non-human bones....which is another clue to the information in the diary.
Great page turner, perfect for teen boys.
They are all involved in a mystery novel for young adults.
George a museum employee is on the search of who killed his co-worker over a bunch of old diaries that were donated to the British Museum. When his friend was killed the diaries were caught in a fire and all that is left of the last diary is a burnt scrap with a few words on it. So with this clue and his friend dying words he is trying to figure out why someone would kill to get their hand on this volume.
Meanwhile there are rumors of a dead man that came home to have tea with his wife and to walk the dog. When they go to investigate someone or something has dug up his grave. So when they get permission to dig it up to see if the body is still there they are shocked to find the body. But the body does not appear as it should......His bones have been replaced with non-human bones....which is another clue to the information in the diary.
Great page turner, perfect for teen boys.
December 9, 2008
This book has one of the best opening lines in the history of literature. I was hooked by the first period. This book has zombies, dinosaurs, pickpockets, a librarian/tinkerer, a beautiful and intelligent heroine, an evil villain, and brain dead crooks. While written for upper elementary/middle school, any one who enjoys a good story will love this book. Especially if you like tea after funerals.
August 13, 2016
Think Frankenstein meets Jurrasic Park in Victorian London. This was a very enjoyable story. It was a little slow in parts, but the suspense kept building and kept you reading. A clock maker, a minister's daughter, a pickpocket, and a strange Professor team up to stop an evil industrialist/scientist who wants to "rule the world" - hear evil insane laugh here. A fun way to spend an afternoon.
August 4, 2025
2.5 stars! There was some suspenseful moments but it wasn’t anything too groundbreaking and though I did finish it, I wasn’t rushing home to pick it back up and continue reading everyday. Also, it wasn’t a very smooth story, there was a few times it seemed all over the place- which is another reason I lost interest in it.
November 8, 2017
This was a fun and entertaining story… but nothing special. It did definitely have the potential to be so though.
As is fairly clear from the cover, this is a steampunk book with dinosaurs in it. And that in itself could have been really good. However, there is left so much not explained or not fully explored about the sciency part, it fails to deliver. The reader finds out only about 50 pages from the end what the bad guy is up to, which immediately turns into a massive actions sequence, so there is just no space or time to go into the ideas and techniques at the base of this book.
This is for a large part the fault of the incredibly stupid main characters. I know this is a middle-grade book so things are a but simplified… but kids aren’t stupid! There is so much in this book that is in your face obvious (who is the bad guy, what does the riddle mean, what is the mysterious object…), it is very infuriating that none of the characters pick up on any of it. Their whole reasoning behind why they do what they do is unclear as well…. they try to stop this guy from getting what he wants, even though they do not know what it is he wants and why he wants it. There is a moment in the book where one of the characters argues that the thugs will leave soon because it is almost daybreak and passersby might call the police. If the police is a solution, why not call them yourself?
And their stupidity was so out of character. We follow George, an amazing clockmaker (which came in kinda handy but could have been explored further), who gets offered a new job (completely irrelevant) by Sir William, head of the department of Unclassified Artefacts (which sounds awesome but is again hardly relevant to the story). These men should be clever! They are joined by pickpocket Eddie, who is at least street smart, and Liz. She was a nice character to read about. She was practical and caring, but also has a good kick in her repertoire. The witty remarks and banter that goes on at times does still make this an enjoyable set of characters to read about (even though their stupidity is cringe-worthy).
This book has an amazing first chapter, which does nicely set the atmosphere. The action is paced nicely throughout the book, and one of the thugs is genuinely scary. The writing does pull you in, making it a real page-turner.
As is fairly clear from the cover, this is a steampunk book with dinosaurs in it. And that in itself could have been really good. However, there is left so much not explained or not fully explored about the sciency part, it fails to deliver. The reader finds out only about 50 pages from the end what the bad guy is up to, which immediately turns into a massive actions sequence, so there is just no space or time to go into the ideas and techniques at the base of this book.
This is for a large part the fault of the incredibly stupid main characters. I know this is a middle-grade book so things are a but simplified… but kids aren’t stupid! There is so much in this book that is in your face obvious (who is the bad guy, what does the riddle mean, what is the mysterious object…), it is very infuriating that none of the characters pick up on any of it. Their whole reasoning behind why they do what they do is unclear as well…. they try to stop this guy from getting what he wants, even though they do not know what it is he wants and why he wants it. There is a moment in the book where one of the characters argues that the thugs will leave soon because it is almost daybreak and passersby might call the police. If the police is a solution, why not call them yourself?
And their stupidity was so out of character. We follow George, an amazing clockmaker (which came in kinda handy but could have been explored further), who gets offered a new job (completely irrelevant) by Sir William, head of the department of Unclassified Artefacts (which sounds awesome but is again hardly relevant to the story). These men should be clever! They are joined by pickpocket Eddie, who is at least street smart, and Liz. She was a nice character to read about. She was practical and caring, but also has a good kick in her repertoire. The witty remarks and banter that goes on at times does still make this an enjoyable set of characters to read about (even though their stupidity is cringe-worthy).
This book has an amazing first chapter, which does nicely set the atmosphere. The action is paced nicely throughout the book, and one of the thugs is genuinely scary. The writing does pull you in, making it a real page-turner.
July 10, 2021
More like a 3.5 star read but it was a fun book so I rounded up. George is a young man working in the British museum mostly in maintaining clocks and animatronics which he loves. He's been approached by Sir William to work for him within the museum though George doesn't know why. He is swept up in something after witnessing his coworker/friends murder as two men try to rob him within his museum office. A fire is set and they don't get the books they're after. In fact the one they wan is burnt except for a scrap George rescues.
Enter Eddie a pick pocket who steals George's wallet and the wallet of Elizabeth's father which draws her into the case. George was going to give the scrap to Augustus Lorimore but it was in his stolen wallet. Now Lorimore is after all three young people to get this for his Frankensteinesque experiments in waking up dinosaurs and creating a super race of brain dead but super strong workers from reanimated corpses. In the meantime Sir WIlliam is the head of the Department of Unclassified Artefacts so a sort of X-Files/Warehouse 13 sort of thing and he's trying to help them and stop Lorimore.
It was different and fun. There are some hiccups (ignoring one scene were Eddie probably was in once and was cut but not all references to him were edited out) like there is no real resolution for the homeless, family-less Eddie at the end. George is almost painfully naive. A lot of their troubles are because he doesn't think things through. I'm not sure the target audience would notice.
I did enjoy it though and I'd read more of the seires.
Enter Eddie a pick pocket who steals George's wallet and the wallet of Elizabeth's father which draws her into the case. George was going to give the scrap to Augustus Lorimore but it was in his stolen wallet. Now Lorimore is after all three young people to get this for his Frankensteinesque experiments in waking up dinosaurs and creating a super race of brain dead but super strong workers from reanimated corpses. In the meantime Sir WIlliam is the head of the Department of Unclassified Artefacts so a sort of X-Files/Warehouse 13 sort of thing and he's trying to help them and stop Lorimore.
It was different and fun. There are some hiccups (ignoring one scene were Eddie probably was in once and was cut but not all references to him were edited out) like there is no real resolution for the homeless, family-less Eddie at the end. George is almost painfully naive. A lot of their troubles are because he doesn't think things through. I'm not sure the target audience would notice.
I did enjoy it though and I'd read more of the seires.
October 15, 2023
Siento que la temática de la historia podría haber aprovechado un mejor potencial.
Al principio se me hizo interesante, después me costaba un poco continuar con la historia.
Estos son los puntos que más llamaron mi atención:
- Siento que varios personajes (como Liz), no tuvieron ese espacio para conocer más a fondo sobre su historia o su vida. En realidad, no se llegó a profundizar sobre ello. Lo cual considero que realmente era importante conocer.
- Hubo conversaciones que para mi parecer eran demasiado innecesarias o forzadas. Como escenas donde los personajes estaban en severo peligro y decían cosas como: "Creo que deberíamos salir de aquí". Y de igual forma seguían perdiendo el tiempo en conversaciones de ese tipo en vez de reaccionar para salir del problema.
- Parte de la historia llegaba a ser un poco confusa (a mi consideración).
- Esto es más personal, pero no puedo creer que los demás personajes hayan abandonado a Eddie a su suerte en el momento de la persecución. Siendo él un niño y ellos justificando su acción de abandonarlo diciendo que él sabrá como arreglárselas.
Al principio se me hizo interesante, después me costaba un poco continuar con la historia.
Estos son los puntos que más llamaron mi atención:
- Siento que varios personajes (como Liz), no tuvieron ese espacio para conocer más a fondo sobre su historia o su vida. En realidad, no se llegó a profundizar sobre ello. Lo cual considero que realmente era importante conocer.
- Hubo conversaciones que para mi parecer eran demasiado innecesarias o forzadas. Como escenas donde los personajes estaban en severo peligro y decían cosas como: "Creo que deberíamos salir de aquí". Y de igual forma seguían perdiendo el tiempo en conversaciones de ese tipo en vez de reaccionar para salir del problema.
- Parte de la historia llegaba a ser un poco confusa (a mi consideración).
- Esto es más personal, pero no puedo creer que los demás personajes hayan abandonado a Eddie a su suerte en el momento de la persecución. Siendo él un niño y ellos justificando su acción de abandonarlo diciendo que él sabrá como arreglárselas.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 11, 2019
This book was going to be thrown away at my library's bookstore where I volunteered, and I really like Victorian London and thieves so this sounded like it could be good so I took it home for free.
When the deceased elderly man walked into his home days after his death and picked up his old routine like he was still alive, taking his frightened and unwilling dog on a walk, and smelling of decay, I was turned off. It was like Edgar Allen Poe.
I noticed there were too many POVs and no one acted their age. When he introduced George, he sounded like an old man. It wasn't until a few pages in that he said George is 19 and I couldn't believe it because he didn't sound anything like a young guy.
It was really basic, uninteresting, and anticlimactic that the British Museum has a secret department no one knows about called the Department of Unclassified Artifacts. How many times have you heard about a secret department where the character is initiated into this department that they can't talk about by a really mysterious person who gives non-answers and doesn't actually say much?
Sir William offered this guy George a job in his secret department. His coworker Percy was going through Sir Henry Glick's diary and two men broke in and ransacked the place looking for the diary. It got set on fire and only a part of one page was preserved. Percy died of his injuries and I was irritated at how dramatic it was.
Percy had told George the name that would help the cause: Augustus Lorimore, so George immediately sent a letter saying what had happened with the dairies and offered to show him the page in a move that I knew was a bad one. I hate when characters do stupid things that get them into trouble when they should have waited and gathered information before they made a move. Proven true when Lorimore snapped and started offering all this money, insinuating George had come to demand a price for the page. George stupidly gave a description of Eddie, telling him the boy had taken his wallet and now had the page. Stupid!
I couldn't figure out how all these characters related to each other and George and Sir William felt so out of place. I read the summary again and I had forgotten that Eddie stole George's wallet. Things picked up though as George discovered his wallet and the page were missing at Lorimore's and Eddie was grabbed by the two bad guys looking for the page. He craftily got away by pretending Liz's dad's wallet was George's and had the paper in it. He went to see Liz and George was already there and they shared their stories, something the author was fond of: he kept having them spill their whole stories to each other. A police officer told them Wilkes' grave had been disturbed, the man who came back from the dead.
I was really interested when Eddie said they needed to dig the grave up to see if Mr. Wilkes was in his casket or not, and they should contact a medium and do a seance to speak with him.
There was a little bit of romance which I always hope for. George and Liz liked each other and there was a girl who saves bread from her dad's bakery to give him, Annie. She said it would cost him and when he said he didn't have any money, she said a kiss then, but he pretended to be sick. He could tell she was disappointed and thought that one day he would kiss her to see what she'd do.
The body was in fact disturbed. The police discovered that it looked broken and the autopsy confirmed that it had been cut in places and dinosaur bones replaced the human ones. It was so weird...who cuts a body up and inserts dinosaur bones? No, who thinks of cutting a body open and inserting dinosaur bones?
Eddie had gotten them into a seance and I was so mad that George and Liz insisted that they go alone. It was Eddie's idea for the seance, he set it up, and they made him stay home. I was glad though that he escaped out the window to come anyway. And the seance was funny how Liz pretended to go along with the name Edward that the medium "heard." Then she and George said they didn't know an Edward. They knew it was fake because George had spotted the thread that connected to the bell that they rang to pretend the spirits were answering. They sternly said they had been expecting other ghosts and named Albert and Percy. Eddie meanwhile pretended to be a delivery boy, asking the kitchen servant about the goings-on, and she realized when he left that he hadn't delivered anything. Liz had tried to trick the medium and her husband by pretending to see a ghost and throwing her handkerchief to look like an apparition. She lifted the table with her knees to make it feel like it was levitating.
A spirit came through and directed the glass to spell "ORIMO" at the same time that Lorimore and Blade were demanding Mr. Wilkes to write down what they wanted to know. They had brought him to life again to have him steal the diaries from the museum but he'd gone home instead.
George and Liz felt that they were being followed on the way home and of course we knew who it was. I expected it to be a bigger deal when he revealed that he hadn't broken his promise because he had gone out the window and not the door, but they didn't even have a reaction at all.
The body disappeared from where Sir William had acquired it and studied the bones. They realized the message was Lorimore--of course!--and Sir William told George that Perch could have been telling him who had been responsible for killing him, not telling him that Lorimore could help. Duh, stupid! George was so dumb to think Percy meant that Lorimore could help.
It sucked so bad that Sir William's assistant, Barry, was working for Lorimore. He'd been there when Sir William studied the body, made a copy of his notes, and had a secret copy of a key. Ugh, I was so mad!
Sir William heard Berry in his office talking about giving his papers to Lorimore and looking for George, Liz, and Eddie. He realized that Berry had gotten into his office when it had been locked and Sir William had the key. He'd been finding his papers moved and felt his objects had been looked at.
Sir William found them at Lorimore's house and of course something had to happen. Blade had Eddie's jacket from where he had caught him earlier and Eddie had shrugged out of the jacket. He gave it to the dinosaur to smell to track them down. They had been having the dinosaur travel in underground tunnels. It was so absurd. But all of a sudden it gave up chasing after Eddie and followed an old trail of his scent, for some reason I didn't understand.
Sir William led them through the tunnels with the dinosaur chasing after them. He came to the realization that the diary was really important and that Lorimore was going to such trouble with them because he thought they could figure it out.
It was funny how Eddie was supposed to attract the attention of the two thugs so they could get the diaries out of the museum. He walked right past them and they didn't even recognize him. He had to burst out "Oh good god!" And ask if they're the ones Lorimore sent after him to get them to realize who he was!
They read Sir Henry Glick's diaries where it mentioned Crystal and a function he had gone to with a dinosaur statue. He'd dropped something that night and knew where it was, and the trio figured out it had been sealed in the dinosaur statue. Of course the bad guys figured out where they were and knew where they were going: the Crystal Palace. I just wanted them to win already and have the bad guys lose.
Eddie had to go inside the statue and I didn't get it, the layout or anything. I couldn't picture it and was so confused. Of course the bad guys heard them banging at it to open it, heard Eddie moving inside once the others left him there. An ape man with a metal head attacked them and they barely managed to subdue him. They went to Lorimore's factory and discovered more metal frames for human machines, ones who can work and not complain about hours and stuff...exciting.
Of course the factory workers saw them and starting coming after them. They always had time to talk over their plan of escape. Every time I turned around they were being pursued and the pursuers would soon be upon them but not before they had a minute or so to talk things over.
Lorimore demanded they give him what he wanted within an hour. They concluded the diary had writing in invisible ink, what I had thought of in the beginning. Anticlimactically, they couldn't figure it out. Right when you're ready for this whole thing to be busted wide open, they got nothing. I was so irritated!
Things took another turn that I didn't like when Sir William deduced that Lorimore wanted viable living tissue from dinosaurs so he could harvest his own cells and make living monsters. He wanted to rule the world and become God. No, just no. I can't stand that.
Lorimore and his cronies broke into the laboratory and Eddie stupidly threw the stone at Lorimore. Every indication had been given that Lorimore wanted the stone but stupid Eddie couldn't believe it was anything but a useless stone. He put exactly what Lorimore wanted right in his hands. Way to go.
Lorimore took Sir William and Liz and was going to reawaken the dinosaur egg. But Eddie and George had the model ship delivered and somehow in a way I didn't understand, it catapulted weapons that killed the guards. They showed up and disabled the dinosaur so when Lorimore ordered it to kill them it didn't do anything. Eddie got a stone from the garden and swapped it out with the egg, so those were some good moments at least.
It was so like Harry Potter. With the dairies and the stone. There were 2 guys and 1 girl, and Sir William was Dumbledore. I know he's from England too and the phrases will be the same, but the way Sir William said Curious reminded me of Harry Pottery and Olivander so much. I liked the phrases like Guv, skiver, blimey, innit?, barmy, and others.
There was such a lack of punctuation. The custom of using apostrophes for dialogue instead of quotation marks threw me. The conversations didn't look like conversations because of it and I had to look closely. Commas were almost always missing, resulting in run-on sentences like "In fact if you come after eight..." No period after Mr. So it was "Mr". He kept using the phrase "viscous liquid." Every time liquid came up, it was viscous liquid.
The plot didn't deliver. He didn't even know what to do with the diary. He literally had them figure it out by studying what Lorimore wanted. We'll never know if the diaries had invisible ink or what they said. Annie never came back in the story; I wanted him to kiss her! We won't know what will happen with Annie and George. I wanted a relationship cemented. When will she act in a play and tell her dad? So much left unanswered and this was just too weird and out-there for me.
When the deceased elderly man walked into his home days after his death and picked up his old routine like he was still alive, taking his frightened and unwilling dog on a walk, and smelling of decay, I was turned off. It was like Edgar Allen Poe.
I noticed there were too many POVs and no one acted their age. When he introduced George, he sounded like an old man. It wasn't until a few pages in that he said George is 19 and I couldn't believe it because he didn't sound anything like a young guy.
It was really basic, uninteresting, and anticlimactic that the British Museum has a secret department no one knows about called the Department of Unclassified Artifacts. How many times have you heard about a secret department where the character is initiated into this department that they can't talk about by a really mysterious person who gives non-answers and doesn't actually say much?
Sir William offered this guy George a job in his secret department. His coworker Percy was going through Sir Henry Glick's diary and two men broke in and ransacked the place looking for the diary. It got set on fire and only a part of one page was preserved. Percy died of his injuries and I was irritated at how dramatic it was.
Percy had told George the name that would help the cause: Augustus Lorimore, so George immediately sent a letter saying what had happened with the dairies and offered to show him the page in a move that I knew was a bad one. I hate when characters do stupid things that get them into trouble when they should have waited and gathered information before they made a move. Proven true when Lorimore snapped and started offering all this money, insinuating George had come to demand a price for the page. George stupidly gave a description of Eddie, telling him the boy had taken his wallet and now had the page. Stupid!
I couldn't figure out how all these characters related to each other and George and Sir William felt so out of place. I read the summary again and I had forgotten that Eddie stole George's wallet. Things picked up though as George discovered his wallet and the page were missing at Lorimore's and Eddie was grabbed by the two bad guys looking for the page. He craftily got away by pretending Liz's dad's wallet was George's and had the paper in it. He went to see Liz and George was already there and they shared their stories, something the author was fond of: he kept having them spill their whole stories to each other. A police officer told them Wilkes' grave had been disturbed, the man who came back from the dead.
I was really interested when Eddie said they needed to dig the grave up to see if Mr. Wilkes was in his casket or not, and they should contact a medium and do a seance to speak with him.
There was a little bit of romance which I always hope for. George and Liz liked each other and there was a girl who saves bread from her dad's bakery to give him, Annie. She said it would cost him and when he said he didn't have any money, she said a kiss then, but he pretended to be sick. He could tell she was disappointed and thought that one day he would kiss her to see what she'd do.
The body was in fact disturbed. The police discovered that it looked broken and the autopsy confirmed that it had been cut in places and dinosaur bones replaced the human ones. It was so weird...who cuts a body up and inserts dinosaur bones? No, who thinks of cutting a body open and inserting dinosaur bones?
Eddie had gotten them into a seance and I was so mad that George and Liz insisted that they go alone. It was Eddie's idea for the seance, he set it up, and they made him stay home. I was glad though that he escaped out the window to come anyway. And the seance was funny how Liz pretended to go along with the name Edward that the medium "heard." Then she and George said they didn't know an Edward. They knew it was fake because George had spotted the thread that connected to the bell that they rang to pretend the spirits were answering. They sternly said they had been expecting other ghosts and named Albert and Percy. Eddie meanwhile pretended to be a delivery boy, asking the kitchen servant about the goings-on, and she realized when he left that he hadn't delivered anything. Liz had tried to trick the medium and her husband by pretending to see a ghost and throwing her handkerchief to look like an apparition. She lifted the table with her knees to make it feel like it was levitating.
A spirit came through and directed the glass to spell "ORIMO" at the same time that Lorimore and Blade were demanding Mr. Wilkes to write down what they wanted to know. They had brought him to life again to have him steal the diaries from the museum but he'd gone home instead.
George and Liz felt that they were being followed on the way home and of course we knew who it was. I expected it to be a bigger deal when he revealed that he hadn't broken his promise because he had gone out the window and not the door, but they didn't even have a reaction at all.
The body disappeared from where Sir William had acquired it and studied the bones. They realized the message was Lorimore--of course!--and Sir William told George that Perch could have been telling him who had been responsible for killing him, not telling him that Lorimore could help. Duh, stupid! George was so dumb to think Percy meant that Lorimore could help.
It sucked so bad that Sir William's assistant, Barry, was working for Lorimore. He'd been there when Sir William studied the body, made a copy of his notes, and had a secret copy of a key. Ugh, I was so mad!
Sir William heard Berry in his office talking about giving his papers to Lorimore and looking for George, Liz, and Eddie. He realized that Berry had gotten into his office when it had been locked and Sir William had the key. He'd been finding his papers moved and felt his objects had been looked at.
Sir William found them at Lorimore's house and of course something had to happen. Blade had Eddie's jacket from where he had caught him earlier and Eddie had shrugged out of the jacket. He gave it to the dinosaur to smell to track them down. They had been having the dinosaur travel in underground tunnels. It was so absurd. But all of a sudden it gave up chasing after Eddie and followed an old trail of his scent, for some reason I didn't understand.
Sir William led them through the tunnels with the dinosaur chasing after them. He came to the realization that the diary was really important and that Lorimore was going to such trouble with them because he thought they could figure it out.
It was funny how Eddie was supposed to attract the attention of the two thugs so they could get the diaries out of the museum. He walked right past them and they didn't even recognize him. He had to burst out "Oh good god!" And ask if they're the ones Lorimore sent after him to get them to realize who he was!
They read Sir Henry Glick's diaries where it mentioned Crystal and a function he had gone to with a dinosaur statue. He'd dropped something that night and knew where it was, and the trio figured out it had been sealed in the dinosaur statue. Of course the bad guys figured out where they were and knew where they were going: the Crystal Palace. I just wanted them to win already and have the bad guys lose.
Eddie had to go inside the statue and I didn't get it, the layout or anything. I couldn't picture it and was so confused. Of course the bad guys heard them banging at it to open it, heard Eddie moving inside once the others left him there. An ape man with a metal head attacked them and they barely managed to subdue him. They went to Lorimore's factory and discovered more metal frames for human machines, ones who can work and not complain about hours and stuff...exciting.
Of course the factory workers saw them and starting coming after them. They always had time to talk over their plan of escape. Every time I turned around they were being pursued and the pursuers would soon be upon them but not before they had a minute or so to talk things over.
Lorimore demanded they give him what he wanted within an hour. They concluded the diary had writing in invisible ink, what I had thought of in the beginning. Anticlimactically, they couldn't figure it out. Right when you're ready for this whole thing to be busted wide open, they got nothing. I was so irritated!
Things took another turn that I didn't like when Sir William deduced that Lorimore wanted viable living tissue from dinosaurs so he could harvest his own cells and make living monsters. He wanted to rule the world and become God. No, just no. I can't stand that.
Lorimore and his cronies broke into the laboratory and Eddie stupidly threw the stone at Lorimore. Every indication had been given that Lorimore wanted the stone but stupid Eddie couldn't believe it was anything but a useless stone. He put exactly what Lorimore wanted right in his hands. Way to go.
Lorimore took Sir William and Liz and was going to reawaken the dinosaur egg. But Eddie and George had the model ship delivered and somehow in a way I didn't understand, it catapulted weapons that killed the guards. They showed up and disabled the dinosaur so when Lorimore ordered it to kill them it didn't do anything. Eddie got a stone from the garden and swapped it out with the egg, so those were some good moments at least.
It was so like Harry Potter. With the dairies and the stone. There were 2 guys and 1 girl, and Sir William was Dumbledore. I know he's from England too and the phrases will be the same, but the way Sir William said Curious reminded me of Harry Pottery and Olivander so much. I liked the phrases like Guv, skiver, blimey, innit?, barmy, and others.
There was such a lack of punctuation. The custom of using apostrophes for dialogue instead of quotation marks threw me. The conversations didn't look like conversations because of it and I had to look closely. Commas were almost always missing, resulting in run-on sentences like "In fact if you come after eight..." No period after Mr. So it was "Mr". He kept using the phrase "viscous liquid." Every time liquid came up, it was viscous liquid.
The plot didn't deliver. He didn't even know what to do with the diary. He literally had them figure it out by studying what Lorimore wanted. We'll never know if the diaries had invisible ink or what they said. Annie never came back in the story; I wanted him to kiss her! We won't know what will happen with Annie and George. I wanted a relationship cemented. When will she act in a play and tell her dad? So much left unanswered and this was just too weird and out-there for me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 17, 2016
Now I will admit this is a book I didn't have a clue about (some would say that thats pretty normal for me). However I have read a number of books by Justin Richards and yet this title and the series it comes from totally escaped me. I must be slipping in old age!
Anyway I stumbled across this book while looking in a second hand shop for others by him - ironically the version I found is an advanced proof so does not look exactly the same as the ISBN version it is linked to.
So what did I think - well I must admit reading the blurb and the cover material I could not get out of my head the Disney classic "One of our dinosaurs is missing" but I can assure you it is nothing like that.
Yes there are a lot of cliches here so many in fact I would be tempted to say that a more cynical reader might dismiss the story as little more than a re-hash of several other similar books however I can assure you they would be missing so much more.
Yes we have the stock items here (and no I am not giving anything away) from the reanimated recently dead, dinosaurs, steam punk machines, fog filled London streets, thugs and the ubiquitous mad scientists - see what I mean. But somehow it all works and I think its own to the characters that populate this world. However fantastic the events the characters are real and human.
So the book appears to be the first of a series which I must admit are anywhere as near as fun as this title I will certainly be tracking down.
Anyway I stumbled across this book while looking in a second hand shop for others by him - ironically the version I found is an advanced proof so does not look exactly the same as the ISBN version it is linked to.
So what did I think - well I must admit reading the blurb and the cover material I could not get out of my head the Disney classic "One of our dinosaurs is missing" but I can assure you it is nothing like that.
Yes there are a lot of cliches here so many in fact I would be tempted to say that a more cynical reader might dismiss the story as little more than a re-hash of several other similar books however I can assure you they would be missing so much more.
Yes we have the stock items here (and no I am not giving anything away) from the reanimated recently dead, dinosaurs, steam punk machines, fog filled London streets, thugs and the ubiquitous mad scientists - see what I mean. But somehow it all works and I think its own to the characters that populate this world. However fantastic the events the characters are real and human.
So the book appears to be the first of a series which I must admit are anywhere as near as fun as this title I will certainly be tracking down.
April 9, 2012
Sabrina Smith
Mystery
The book begins with Albert coming home for tea and then taking the dog for a walk. The strange thing about this is that his funeral had been four days before, and he seemed to be a bit dead. From there the mystery deepens, complete with a street urchin who has a good heart, a young man who works the British museum, an aspiring actress, a diary, and much more set in the dark and gritty streets of Victorian London.
Part Frankenstein-esque horror, part Sherlock Holmes, Richards chose a great setting for the book. The plot moves quickly, with a walking dead man, a kidnapping, a fire, and a murder all in fairly rapid succession in the first part of the book. The three young protagonists will be relatable to teen readers, who will follow each twist and turn of the plot with eager enthusiasm.
Mystery
The book begins with Albert coming home for tea and then taking the dog for a walk. The strange thing about this is that his funeral had been four days before, and he seemed to be a bit dead. From there the mystery deepens, complete with a street urchin who has a good heart, a young man who works the British museum, an aspiring actress, a diary, and much more set in the dark and gritty streets of Victorian London.
Part Frankenstein-esque horror, part Sherlock Holmes, Richards chose a great setting for the book. The plot moves quickly, with a walking dead man, a kidnapping, a fire, and a murder all in fairly rapid succession in the first part of the book. The three young protagonists will be relatable to teen readers, who will follow each twist and turn of the plot with eager enthusiasm.
October 23, 2015
Eddie, George, and Elizabeth are being hunted down by Augustus Lorimore. Lorimore owns a factory and owns the dead, both humans and dinosaurs. Every one of his terrible creatures is out on the street and can be following them around.They attempt to save London is their plan, or will they die trying. To see what happens next and if they save London read The Death Collector. This book reminded me of the The Dead book by Charlie Higson. Both books had some connection with the living dead.
I thought this book was an ok book but it was really hard to understand but i would recommend it to someone who likes a kind of gory book.
I thought this book was an ok book but it was really hard to understand but i would recommend it to someone who likes a kind of gory book.
May 29, 2023
After a series of unfortunate injuries, I was having the worst time concentrating or focusing on reading. Then I found this book. I can't explain how grateful I am to have found it and its memoriable characters that became like friends to me as I clung onto this book each night I got to read it. I still grin when I think about it. I'm forever grateful to Justin Richards for writing it.
July 24, 2013
It's....
Read my review here: http://bloggingbrookeworm.blogspot.co...
Read my review here: http://bloggingbrookeworm.blogspot.co...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 7, 2013
What's not to like about zombie dinosaurs roaming the streets of Victorian London? Dickensian pickpockets, automatons, and the British Museum too. Fun to start to a steampunk series.
May 13, 2021
Maybe I should be more generous with my review, considering this is a YA novel, but I really believe a book for young people has no need to be doltish and clunky.
The beginning was interesting, if not a little slow to make sense. I couldn’t get a grasp on the genre (husband kept asking if it was steam punk—I said no, I don’t think so, until nearly the end) and a lot of characters are introduced early on that make it difficult to keep track of who you’re meant to follow as a significant part of the unfolding story.
This was forgivable since the plot was so intriguing, but the main clues that the misfit band were trying to put together were so obviously put forward in the novel that it was agonising, watching them fumble and scratch their heads with the answer literally right in front of them for pages on end. I can understand and even respect the 15-19 year olds having difficulty figuring it out, but the head of the Unclassified Artefacts, a grown man of supposedly above-average intelligence having such a rough time of it was frustrating. Either dial back the mystery and keep to the action, or don’t make the answer so glaringly obvious to the readers to the point that the “masterminds” look like bumbling fools. And this is coming from a lady that doesn’t usually solve the case of any mystery until someone kindly spells it out in no uncertain terms by the wrap up.
Another complaint is how the grit and crime of a realistic Victorian London were largely ignored in favour of The Bigger Bad Baddies. The pickpocket is really a compassionate guy with his own code of ethics. There are no indications of a single unsavoury character amongst the theatre troupe, not even a hint at the general promiscuity that made acting a profession looked down upon by the ministers and even the self-professed moral folk of the day. I can get behind hiding plays under your stationary from an overbearing father, but to be sneaking out to help at a local stage play with no repercussions on either reputation or personal safety? The world building wasn’t removed enough from Industrial London for me to buy it.
I will say, the clock bit was clever. I liked it. But overall, the book is too eye-roll inducing for an older teen, and too dark for a younger reader.
The beginning was interesting, if not a little slow to make sense. I couldn’t get a grasp on the genre (husband kept asking if it was steam punk—I said no, I don’t think so, until nearly the end) and a lot of characters are introduced early on that make it difficult to keep track of who you’re meant to follow as a significant part of the unfolding story.
This was forgivable since the plot was so intriguing, but the main clues that the misfit band were trying to put together were so obviously put forward in the novel that it was agonising, watching them fumble and scratch their heads with the answer literally right in front of them for pages on end. I can understand and even respect the 15-19 year olds having difficulty figuring it out, but the head of the Unclassified Artefacts, a grown man of supposedly above-average intelligence having such a rough time of it was frustrating. Either dial back the mystery and keep to the action, or don’t make the answer so glaringly obvious to the readers to the point that the “masterminds” look like bumbling fools. And this is coming from a lady that doesn’t usually solve the case of any mystery until someone kindly spells it out in no uncertain terms by the wrap up.
Another complaint is how the grit and crime of a realistic Victorian London were largely ignored in favour of The Bigger Bad Baddies. The pickpocket is really a compassionate guy with his own code of ethics. There are no indications of a single unsavoury character amongst the theatre troupe, not even a hint at the general promiscuity that made acting a profession looked down upon by the ministers and even the self-professed moral folk of the day. I can get behind hiding plays under your stationary from an overbearing father, but to be sneaking out to help at a local stage play with no repercussions on either reputation or personal safety? The world building wasn’t removed enough from Industrial London for me to buy it.
I will say, the clock bit was clever. I liked it. But overall, the book is too eye-roll inducing for an older teen, and too dark for a younger reader.
November 10, 2025
"Hm, narrated by Steven Pacey... Why does that name sound familiar...
OMG STEVEN PACEY YOU DEVIL WHAT'RE YOU DOING HERE!?"
-Me, immediately as I started this audiobook
Honestly, a lot of fun. I really can't fathom why there's so many negative reviews to this book. It's young adult, but so what? There was only a few times that it felt like a YA novel and there's necromancied dinosaurs in it! The characters are fun, the plot has good flow, and the story is unique and interesting. I really wondered if I just love the narrator so much I was overlooking poor writing or something but, honestly, I've listened to other audiobooks with narrators I adore and while I enjoyed listening, I didn't like the books. So no, I really don't know why this book has such low reviews. I thought it was a ton of fun and liked the characters so much I was actually wanting to continue with the series.
For future me, this book was about
OMG STEVEN PACEY YOU DEVIL WHAT'RE YOU DOING HERE!?"
-Me, immediately as I started this audiobook
Honestly, a lot of fun. I really can't fathom why there's so many negative reviews to this book. It's young adult, but so what? There was only a few times that it felt like a YA novel and there's necromancied dinosaurs in it! The characters are fun, the plot has good flow, and the story is unique and interesting. I really wondered if I just love the narrator so much I was overlooking poor writing or something but, honestly, I've listened to other audiobooks with narrators I adore and while I enjoyed listening, I didn't like the books. So no, I really don't know why this book has such low reviews. I thought it was a ton of fun and liked the characters so much I was actually wanting to continue with the series.
For future me, this book was about
November 18, 2017
Let me start this review by reminding you all that this is a YA/Middle Grade book. That being said, it was written so.
The book was pretty predictable in the beginning. I knew who the "bad guys" were before the characters in the book ever figured it out. Maybe a little bit before halfway through the book, things started getting better. The first half of the book was spent getting to know the characters and the story. All of the action starts happening after that.
The second half of the book was great. For all ages. It was full of action and suspense, and really ended well. I was impressed with the way that the author was able to keep the reader interested, even through the beginning part that wasn't as interesting. He did a good job of writing in a way that is easy to read and keep up with, but also had enough in it to keep you reading all the way to the end.
I would suggest this book to mainly middle grade and YA readers. It is a good read for an adult, but at times you may find it tedious because of the predictability. Younger readers likely won't be able to predict as much as quickly as a well-read adult.
The book was pretty predictable in the beginning. I knew who the "bad guys" were before the characters in the book ever figured it out. Maybe a little bit before halfway through the book, things started getting better. The first half of the book was spent getting to know the characters and the story. All of the action starts happening after that.
The second half of the book was great. For all ages. It was full of action and suspense, and really ended well. I was impressed with the way that the author was able to keep the reader interested, even through the beginning part that wasn't as interesting. He did a good job of writing in a way that is easy to read and keep up with, but also had enough in it to keep you reading all the way to the end.
I would suggest this book to mainly middle grade and YA readers. It is a good read for an adult, but at times you may find it tedious because of the predictability. Younger readers likely won't be able to predict as much as quickly as a well-read adult.
June 3, 2024
Victorian England — something strange and evil seems to be in the air. The British Museum is broken into in the dark, late hours. The thieves are looking for Glick’s diary. Not finding it, destruction of property and a death are what they leave in their wake.
Eddie Hopkins is a street urchin who earns money as a pickpocket. When he steals the wallet of George Archer, he finds a piece of a page with charred edges and himself involved in bringing down a man with dangerous ideas.
George Archer works at the British Museum. The loss of his wallet and death of a close friend sends him into a strange, dangerous and dark world filled with mechanical monsters, an obsessed and power hungry industrialist, with high ambitions of his prehistoric creations that will control the world under his power. George is up against this man that will stop at nothing to accomplish his dream…or rather nightmare.
Fast paced, with moments of London’s dark and smoggy fog, the adventure is to solve the mystery of who is behind these strange mechanical monsters and the events related to them.
A fun read of an unusual adventure.
Eddie Hopkins is a street urchin who earns money as a pickpocket. When he steals the wallet of George Archer, he finds a piece of a page with charred edges and himself involved in bringing down a man with dangerous ideas.
George Archer works at the British Museum. The loss of his wallet and death of a close friend sends him into a strange, dangerous and dark world filled with mechanical monsters, an obsessed and power hungry industrialist, with high ambitions of his prehistoric creations that will control the world under his power. George is up against this man that will stop at nothing to accomplish his dream…or rather nightmare.
Fast paced, with moments of London’s dark and smoggy fog, the adventure is to solve the mystery of who is behind these strange mechanical monsters and the events related to them.
A fun read of an unusual adventure.
December 27, 2018
Înainte de a-și da și ultima suflare,Percy menționează numele Lorimore colegului sau George-un ceasornicar .
Intrând in posesia unei “notițe” ce aparținea ultimului jurnal scăpat nears al omului de știință Glick,George dorește sa ia legătura cu Lorimore pt a elucida misterul ce a dus la omorârea lui Percy,poate chiar a lui Albert. Un mic incident face sa-și piardă” temporar notița ,fiindu i restituita de către Liz-o fata de preot,chiar ajunge sa l cunoască și pe hoțul de portofel,Eddie.
Astfel ajung sa fie urmăriți (George,Șir Williams,Eddie,Liz) de către oamenii lui Lorimore,un om ce îl pot numii creatorul lui Frankestein...
O carte de 3.5* de care sincer nu as mai fi atrasa sa o recitesc.
Intrând in posesia unei “notițe” ce aparținea ultimului jurnal scăpat nears al omului de știință Glick,George dorește sa ia legătura cu Lorimore pt a elucida misterul ce a dus la omorârea lui Percy,poate chiar a lui Albert. Un mic incident face sa-și piardă” temporar notița ,fiindu i restituita de către Liz-o fata de preot,chiar ajunge sa l cunoască și pe hoțul de portofel,Eddie.
Astfel ajung sa fie urmăriți (George,Șir Williams,Eddie,Liz) de către oamenii lui Lorimore,un om ce îl pot numii creatorul lui Frankestein...
O carte de 3.5* de care sincer nu as mai fi atrasa sa o recitesc.
February 24, 2020
Very dissapointing. At all levels.
Only reason I give this book 2 stars is due to the relationship between George and Liz. Something about it was interesting.
Apart from that, nothing was inspiring, interesting or worth it about this book or its story. From crazy, unanswered questions, to completely unrealistic science facts.
I thought the core idea was very atractive, but the way it’s been delivered... I dont think so. I believe there was so much potential for this story, based in old London, mistery, suspense... Not being used to its full. Almost felt like the author needed some more research over the theme and the city this book is based on.
Possibly it should just be read by children.
Only reason I give this book 2 stars is due to the relationship between George and Liz. Something about it was interesting.
Apart from that, nothing was inspiring, interesting or worth it about this book or its story. From crazy, unanswered questions, to completely unrealistic science facts.
I thought the core idea was very atractive, but the way it’s been delivered... I dont think so. I believe there was so much potential for this story, based in old London, mistery, suspense... Not being used to its full. Almost felt like the author needed some more research over the theme and the city this book is based on.
Possibly it should just be read by children.
April 21, 2021
The book started off pretty interesting but soon it started trailing off. After the first four chapters its started getting boring because they started having unnecessary conversations. The book had to much information in it that I didn't need to know. I wish I could just read the main points of the book with a couple of details. There were only a few exciting events in the book and they were much at all. I also wish I had more detail about the characters in the story.
I and my friend were asking if we could make a film for The Death Collector 2? Justin Richards, please give me an answer as soon as possible!
I and my friend were asking if we could make a film for The Death Collector 2? Justin Richards, please give me an answer as soon as possible!
February 4, 2025
A very fun Victorian steampunk romp. Our heroes are the usual mix; the slightly awkward young man, the independent young lady, the gentleman professor and the street urchin. Together they must unravel a gruesome murder and mystery.
This tale avoids the usual pitfalls of filling the world with airships and automata. The Victorian London is our real one; the only steampunk science is that created by the mad villain. As such, the fantastical aspects have more impact.
There is also a tiny Easter Egg related to Dr Who (the author is the creative director of the Dr Who novels).
Overall, highly enjoyable.
This tale avoids the usual pitfalls of filling the world with airships and automata. The Victorian London is our real one; the only steampunk science is that created by the mad villain. As such, the fantastical aspects have more impact.
There is also a tiny Easter Egg related to Dr Who (the author is the creative director of the Dr Who novels).
Overall, highly enjoyable.
February 27, 2022
Unfortunately, this book did not live up to its opening scene, which was very Doctor Who like.
Instead, this just got more and more dumb. I'm apparently 100% on board with the fact they were gonna have vampires possibly, but bringing an egg back to life through electricity?? You're gonna tell me you have a smart crazy person who can reanimate things with electricity, because he understands electrical impulses, but then is gonna try to reanimate an egg?
That was just the dumb sprinkles on top of the dumb cake. Just no.
Instead, this just got more and more dumb. I'm apparently 100% on board with the fact they were gonna have vampires possibly, but bringing an egg back to life through electricity?? You're gonna tell me you have a smart crazy person who can reanimate things with electricity, because he understands electrical impulses, but then is gonna try to reanimate an egg?
That was just the dumb sprinkles on top of the dumb cake. Just no.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 17, 2025
Cool premise and great opening chapter, but after that this urban fantasy/sci-fi/mystery kind of falls flat with all the bumbling about. The only reason I listened to the whole thing and gave it an extra star was because Steven Pacey narrates, and he is terrific.
Spoilery complaint:
Spoilery complaint:
June 30, 2024
Opening with an encounter with what appears to be the undead, the story takes a turn for the weird. It turns out not to be zombies, which was a bit disappointing for me--certainly reassuring for some readers--but turns out to be something closer to "Frankenstein" in both tone and feel, with some solid steampunk elements. For a little while, the various plot lines felt disjoined, but it all came together by the end.
May 8, 2017
Sir William is one of the main characters. He is and older man not elderly. He was there since the beginning. He was a little creepy but then you start to understand why because of his "unknown" part of the museum.
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