Book Review: European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman (The Extraordinary Adventures of the Athena Club #2)

 

European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman

Theodora Goss

Overall: 4/5

Plot and themes: 3/5

Characters: 4/5

Writing style: 4/5

Attention-grabbing: 3/5

European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman picks up a couple weeks after the first book in this series. All of the members of the Athena Club are settling nicely into their new lives. They're working, they're making money, and they're figuring out how to live with their forced abilities.  Until they receive a message from Mary's old governess saying that there's a girl in need who could have been the product of her father's experimentation. So they galvanize themselves and go to her rescue. 

I love the lore of this series. It's basically fanfiction of horror novels of the 1800s, written about their "children" or the products of their experimentation. I love the personalities of each of the girls, they each bring so much to the table and make such a fun and quirky team. My biggest issues with this novel was the pacing, there were so many dull points where it was just droning on. I don't think it really needed to be the full 720 pages, quite a few pieces could have been cut while keeping the integrity of the plot. 

Also, because of who I am, I'm just desperate for the romances. Beatrice got her moments in this book which I appreciated and we're setting it up for something for Justine too. But what I really want is Mary and Sherlock and all I'm getting are CRUMBS. That cliffhanger at the end took me out, and the little allusions to it through the edits that the girls are adding as the book progresses are killing me. But also good for the series, because this one small element has me in a chokehold and is really pushing me to finish the third book. 

So yeah, I'm still recommending the books. I think they're great historical fictions with kind of a paranormal element that you don't see everywhere. I wouldn't be mad if this was an ongoing mystery kind of series where they just solve a new murder every book, but I can see how it's coming to a close in book three.