Jesse’s Reviews > The Three Impostors or the Transmutations > Status Update
Jesse
is 67% done
“Novel of the Iron Maid”
This is a short horror tale. Burton has to walk nine miles after missing his train and is found by an acquaintance about halfway there. The dude takes him to his house and wants to show him his OWN collection. It turns out that Mathias collects instruments of torture! Okay, weird, but Burton nevertheless tags along as he shows off his latest item, a clockwork statue called the Iron Maid.
— Nov 12, 2026 12:42PM
This is a short horror tale. Burton has to walk nine miles after missing his train and is found by an acquaintance about halfway there. The dude takes him to his house and wants to show him his OWN collection. It turns out that Mathias collects instruments of torture! Okay, weird, but Burton nevertheless tags along as he shows off his latest item, a clockwork statue called the Iron Maid.
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Jesse’s Previous Updates
Jesse
is 99% done
“Adventure of the Deserted Residence”
HOLY SHIT
Dyson and Phillips stalk through a wealth of imagery about decay and decadence before coming across the body of the man with the spectacles. It’s, uh, a powerful note to end on.
— 22 hours, 50 min ago
HOLY SHIT
Dyson and Phillips stalk through a wealth of imagery about decay and decadence before coming across the body of the man with the spectacles. It’s, uh, a powerful note to end on.
Jesse
is 96% done
“History of the Young Man With Spectacles”
I feel like there is a trace of the truth in the stories that the imposters have told. We have a secret society; exotic tortures; and drugged men reveling in unchecked pleasure. The guy with the glasses has a crisis of conscience when he is confronted by the consequence of his actions, which then precipitates the agents/imposters.
— 23 hours, 0 min ago
I feel like there is a trace of the truth in the stories that the imposters have told. We have a secret society; exotic tortures; and drugged men reveling in unchecked pleasure. The guy with the glasses has a crisis of conscience when he is confronted by the consequence of his actions, which then precipitates the agents/imposters.
Jesse
is 88% done
“Strange Occurrence in Clerkenwell”
Dyson is led by the bent of the universe to witness an act mentioned in the prologue—when Davies touches him on the arm. We are indeed close to the end, and now we get the first honest bit of backstory, the journal of the guy with the glasses. Cool! Not to say that I minded the weird stories of the con-people.
— Nov 12, 2026 02:45PM
Dyson is led by the bent of the universe to witness an act mentioned in the prologue—when Davies touches him on the arm. We are indeed close to the end, and now we get the first honest bit of backstory, the journal of the guy with the glasses. Cool! Not to say that I minded the weird stories of the con-people.
Jesse
is 83% done
“Novel of the White Powder”
Dang! This woman tells the GOOD stories. Her overworked brother starts to take a drug to assist with his health. He starts to look like he feels better, the he starts to feel TOO good for his sister’s liking, as he is constantly partying with a man he used to know, Orford, and living a life of decadence and not studying his law books. Things Get Worse.
— Nov 12, 2026 01:26PM
Dang! This woman tells the GOOD stories. Her overworked brother starts to take a drug to assist with his health. He starts to look like he feels better, the he starts to feel TOO good for his sister’s liking, as he is constantly partying with a man he used to know, Orford, and living a life of decadence and not studying his law books. Things Get Worse.
Jesse
is 70% done
“The Recluse of Baywater”
Dyson has a realistic novelist friend who he visits every so often. The normally vacant first floor apartment has been taken… by a lady! By the same lady that accosted Phillips, of course, but under a different name. The con-woman appeals to Dyson’s sense of adventure, suggesting that she is in mortal peril, which Wilkins utterly failed to do with his Novel.
— Nov 12, 2026 12:57PM
Dyson has a realistic novelist friend who he visits every so often. The normally vacant first floor apartment has been taken… by a lady! By the same lady that accosted Phillips, of course, but under a different name. The con-woman appeals to Dyson’s sense of adventure, suggesting that she is in mortal peril, which Wilkins utterly failed to do with his Novel.
Jesse
is 63% done
“The Decorative Imagination”
This is a framing story to describe how Dyson and Burton become frequent friends, leading to the next Novel. Presumably Wilkins disappeared because he could tell that Dyson had sniffed out the incongruities of his stories. In any case, Dyson specifically mentions the decadent trend and even novels about “old women” and “new women”, so he was clearly hip to the trends.
— Nov 12, 2026 12:33PM
This is a framing story to describe how Dyson and Burton become frequent friends, leading to the next Novel. Presumably Wilkins disappeared because he could tell that Dyson had sniffed out the incongruities of his stories. In any case, Dyson specifically mentions the decadent trend and even novels about “old women” and “new women”, so he was clearly hip to the trends.
Jesse
is 61% done
“Incident of the Private Bar”
We meet the third imposter! He isn’t the guy that Dyson saw chasing the guy with the glasses, so on reading back in the prologue, the trio referenced a fourth conspirator, Lipsius. Anyway, this dude has a thematically interesting story to tell as he is a collector of curios and he freely admits to using conman techniques, including lurid stories, to grease his purchases.
— Nov 12, 2026 12:19PM
We meet the third imposter! He isn’t the guy that Dyson saw chasing the guy with the glasses, so on reading back in the prologue, the trio referenced a fourth conspirator, Lipsius. Anyway, this dude has a thematically interesting story to tell as he is a collector of curios and he freely admits to using conman techniques, including lurid stories, to grease his purchases.
Jesse
is 49% done
“Novel of the Black Seal”
The story of “Lally” is so much cooler than Richmond’s. Lally is rescued from starvation by the ethnologist and employed as his governess. She has some level of self-education and eventually becomes Gregg’s secretary as well, assisting him with some of his research, culminating with his obsession with locating a lost race, perhaps of Atlantis.
— Nov 12, 2026 08:26AM
The story of “Lally” is so much cooler than Richmond’s. Lally is rescued from starvation by the ethnologist and employed as his governess. She has some level of self-education and eventually becomes Gregg’s secretary as well, assisting him with some of his research, culminating with his obsession with locating a lost race, perhaps of Atlantis.
Jesse
is 28% done
“Adventure of the Missing Brother”
This time we have Phillips, and he is preyed upon by the woman impersonator. She is pretending to look for her brother, describing him as the young man with the glasses. She tells a very short story where she sees him at their usual Saturday rendezvous point only for him to be escorted past her by what appears to be a dead man, and receiving a telepathic communication.
— Nov 12, 2026 06:40AM
This time we have Phillips, and he is preyed upon by the woman impersonator. She is pretending to look for her brother, describing him as the young man with the glasses. She tells a very short story where she sees him at their usual Saturday rendezvous point only for him to be escorted past her by what appears to be a dead man, and receiving a telepathic communication.
Jesse
is 22% done
“The Novel of the Dark Valley”
A harrowing tale of a man who becomes the unwitting secretary to the head of a nefarious gang in America, only to be saved at the last second from being lynched as a gang member. Dyson takes this story in stride, but as a wise man, he infers that this Wilkins does not actually fear this spectacled man who he calls Jack Smith. That’s a pretty good character beat!
— Nov 11, 2026 02:44PM
A harrowing tale of a man who becomes the unwitting secretary to the head of a nefarious gang in America, only to be saved at the last second from being lynched as a gang member. Dyson takes this story in stride, but as a wise man, he infers that this Wilkins does not actually fear this spectacled man who he calls Jack Smith. That’s a pretty good character beat!
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rated it 4.5 stars
Nov 12, 2026 12:44PM
The Iron Maid (not the Iron Maiden!) strangled its victims while kissing them. Mathias touches the knob between the Maid’s breasts, which triggers the mechanism, which Burton was powerless to free him from.
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Burton’s relationship with Dyson concludes shortly after this story, with Dyson concluding—due to the theft of a book, I think The Anatomy of Melancholy—that Burton was a pathological liar.