The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter
Theodora Goss
Overall: 4/5
Plot and themes: 4/5
Characters: 5/5
Writing style: 4/5
Attention-grabbing: 5/5
The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter is sort of a mystery-urban fantasy-historical fiction hybrid set right at the turn of the twentieth century. The protagonists take turns reflecting upon the twists and turns of their lives as the daughters of some of the most iconic creators of monsters from the horror novels of the 1800s. This is backed through the tales of their current mysteries, fighting as a squad of female detectives backed by Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson.
It's such an interesting combo of characters. They all reflect so nicely upon one another, filling in the gaps where they each fall short and developing into such a nice team. The mystery is fun, the action is quick-paced, and you find yourself being sidetracked constantly by their arguments during the editing stages of the novel. That's what makes this book even more unique, it's backed by a series of dialogue as the main characters are writing about the events of their past in order to get sell it to fund current exploits. It's fun especially because you know that all of the narrators are going to make it to the end of the book but you get little hints of what's to come as the book progresses.
I think it's cool and quirky and has a lot of potential to grow into a truly interesting mystery series. I'm also very much holding out for a romance between Sherlock and Mary, I choose to ignore the age difference in favor of loving how awkward they are with each other but how well they work as a unit. I'm excited to see how it all plays out.
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