*3.5 ( )

Gave up on page 370: Chapter XX, Morning in Budapest

It would be easier if this book was an abomination and utter bore. That's not the problem here.

It took me a month to get to page 370. I just couldn't stand the main characters which is a shock because they seemed so well-rounded with potential to grow on from the first book.

Imagine if you will, all the characters you loved from different authors and their respective universes all converging in Budapest and London. This would be literary gold - the prospect of Irene Adler meeting Mina Harker and then Dr Moreau's ultimate creation sneaking around plotting to save one monster and kill another monster. It feels like the pancake flop that was "The League of Extraordinary Men" with Sean Connery. The women leads are godawful - for some reason the writer still saddles these characters with stereotypical characteristics found in novels written hundreds of years ago portraying women as jealous, fickle and insecure things.

Every single main character(save for Beatrice, Diana and Mrs Poole) whine on and on about their lacking capabilities and compared themselves to other characters. Failing to bring together each character on an intellectual level, each character felt like a teenager still trying to compete with her frenemies in a competition inside their heads. Seriously? You have people to rescue and secret organizations to shut down and you're wondering why you can't climb walls like this character or why Sherlock asked for regular updates or why you hadn't been as observant as so and so and peaches and cream and pumpkin spice tea - see, I can ramble nonsensically just like the characters.

The characters got so infuriating I could only stomach one chapter a day thus dragging out the whole experience which was already an annoyance. So what was good here?

A few positives:

⦁ The entire Oriental Express sequence was well written (ignoring all of Mary's whining and "woe is me" nonsense)
⦁ Irene Adler appears as a covert character working for the clandestine agency in the form of Mrs Norton almost genius.
⦁ Van Helsing as a mad scientist would not have even been on my bingo card (especially since my mind can only see Hugh Jackman as Van Helsing now).
⦁ Science and experiments as the origin of the vampyre, the strigoi and the lamia was really well presented.

There are way too many books in the world and new ones coming out each day to waste your time dragging out a book you'd normally finish in 4-5 sittings or even a week. ( )

This is a fun continuation of the story about Mary, Diana, Catherine, Beatrice, and Justine, though it was definitely longer than I prefer. I realize that the story was split up into many parts due to the way the characters split up, and that makes the story longer. However, to me it felt like it was longer than it needed it to be. I did enjoy the read, but some of the minor plot points could have been reduced or eliminated without much difficulty. ( )

Really loved this sequel -- glad to see the delightful and powerful ladies of the Athena Club return, and still find both their aside squabbles and their personalities to be deeply amusing. I kind of love that the sequel continues the collector's tradition of the first book. In addition to all our usual ladies, they are now on a quest to rescue Lucinda Van Helsing -- some unexpected allies come to their aid and provide yet more interesting tie-ins to the literary canon. Love it.

Some things I were different -- Mary! Resume your confidence! I think you will need it. And Can't Diana pleeeeease have a puppy? Hoho seems like an excellent addition, is all I'm saying. Really looking forward to the next book.

Some specific feedback about the ARC (late, I fear) -- it is an enormous book, and some of the asides could be pared back without sacrificing much -- in particular, Diana's continual brattiness gets a little repetitive in the asides, since it is also abundantly present in the narrative. Since that is ARC commentary, I'm not sure it's relevant to the published book, as it may have been edited further. Advanced reader's copy provided by Edelweiss. ( )

I am enjoying these books tremendously, and very glad to see there's going to be another one. ( )