The Sinister Mystery of the Mesmerizing Girl - the Third Extraordinary Adventure of the Athena Club

And another one bites the dust, as the saying goes (sigh).  I absolutely HATE beginning one of these posts that way, but unfortunately, it's a fact.  When I picked up the first Extraordinary Adventure of the Athena Club novel, I had high hopes.  An intriguing new series about the daughters of Dr. Jeckyll, Mr. Hide, Frankenstein, Dr. Rappaccini, Dr. Moreau, Van Helsing, and more - solving mysteries that could very well affect not only their 19th century England, but the entire world!  And the writing - wow!  I was utterly loving the style of Theodora Goss, and her interjecting of the characters' voices as they "talk" with Catherine as she "writes" each novel.  It was fun, it was adventurous, and it was filled with mystery, action, danger, suspense, romance, and just about everything else you would want in a great read.  And the second book not only held up against the first, but surpassed it.  So, when it finally came time to read this third book, you can imagine my utter disappointment when I read the tag at the top of the front cover:

"Ends on a high note." 

Seriously?  I quickly turned it over and saw the description, which started with "Mary Jeckyll and the Athena Club race to save Alice - and foil a plot to unseat the Queen - in the electrifying conclusion to the trilogy..."  Well, that pretty much clinched the fact that this was yet another three-book series, and the characters I have grown to love and enjoy will no longer grace any more pages of story after this.  I was so disappointed, I almost put the book down and did not want to read it, as once it was read, there would be no going back.  But I had to know.  The last book ended with poor Alice (the Athena Club's kitchen maid, who the women had just discovered could be someone else entirely!) being kidnapped by a woman claiming to be her mother, and so it only stands to reason this book would pick up on that.  

The Sinister Mystery of the Mesmerizing Girl opens with the origin of Ayesha - those who read the previous book may remember that she is currently the head of the Alchemical Society.  Of course, six pages into that origin, and the members of the Athena Club interrupt poor Catherine as she is trying to write the story and question why she would bore readers with the story of Ayesha, when the book was supposed to be about them, not the Egyptian princess!  And that right there is one of the things I so love about this series - the characters themselves constantly break into the story to add commentary or question Catherine's "telling" of the story, or just to promote the previous books (of course, that is mostly Catherine doing that, since, after all, she is the "author" of these stories!).  So, Catherine gives in and reverts to the Athena Club, where Mary, Diana, and Justine are returning home from Budapest.  Meanwhile, Catherine and Beatrice has remained behind, staying with Count Dracula, to fulfill their obligation to the traveling side-show.  Soon enough, though, the young women are reunited and begin their search for the missing Alice - AND Sherlock Holmes, who has also missing - AS WELL AS poor Dr. Watson, who hasn't been seen or heard from in over a week!  The Athena Club certainly has its hands full - guess it's a good thing their membership keeps expanding.

Meanwhile, Alice discovers that her mother has kidnapped her for a very specific purpose - it seems she is in league with Moriarty, who is forming a new society intent on taking over first England, and then the world.  But when Margaret Trelawny shows up, things start to change.  Alice, who they continually refer to as "Lydia" (which appears to be her given name), is suddenly given freedom throughout the house where they have been holding her captive, and she is made privy to the plans of what is to take place (even though she doesn't understand all of it - something about performing a ceremony that requires a sacrifice in order to bring back an Egyptian goddess).  Alice is smart though, having learned a thing or two while a servant in the Athena Club's house (especially from Mary Jeckyll, who Alice thinks is very smart, and she's always asking herself, "What would Mary do in this situation?"), and so she stays silent, pretends to go along with the plans, and soon discovers that the sacrifice for the ceremony is actually Sherlock Holmes!

Although the story is 430 pages in length, there is never a lull in the action.  From the train ride home to the search through London to the combing of opium dens in the worst part of town to being captured by Moriarty to the horrifying ceremony in the museum (during which a number of people die!) to a dangerous adventure in Cornwall to the very act of saving the Queen of England and facing down the wrath of an all-powerful goddess come back to life - it's literally non-stop for the Athena Club!  But their brains, their wit, their quick-thinking, and their never-give-up attitude leads Mary, Diana, Justine, Catherine, Beatrice, and Lucinda on a life-threatening, exciting adventure that definitely wraps this series up with a big bang!  And along for the ride are Sherlock and Watson, as well as those little scamps, the Baker Street Irregulars, Mycroft Holmes, and a few other familiar faces.  

Theodora Goss certainly has proven herself a wonderful writer with these three books, and it's truly a shame that we won't be getting any more adventures of the Athena Club.  Amazing stories, creatively wonderful characters, and so much potential for a million more tales of mysteries of the unknown - but alas, they shall forever remain a mystery, since this, as they say, is THE END.

RATING:  10 bags of lemon and pear drops, humbugs, licorice, and other assorted candies out of 10 for sharing with the world these monstrous tales of not-so-monstrous, unconventional women who prove that even the most unlikely of heroes can save the world!

European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman - the Second Extraordinary Adventure of the Athena Club

What better way to start off the new year that reuniting with the daughters of Frankenstein, Dr. Jeckyll, Mr. Hyde, Dr. Moreau, and Dr. Rappaccini?  Especially when their second adventure as members of The Athena Club takes over 700 pages to tell the full story!  EGADS!  When I first sat down to start reading this book, I did not realize it was pretty much going to take me the entire month of January to read it - but with work responsibilities, my birthday, David's birthday, and a horrible bout with the stomach flu, what might have normally only taken a week to read ended up taking literally an entire month.  But that's not a bad thing - spending time with Mary, Diana, Justine, Catherine, and Beatrice is always guaranteed to be fun, and these exceptional ladies did not disappoint!

European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman is Theodora Goss's second foray into this fictional world where the female creations of these mad scientists have come together to battle the forces of their fathers' evil society of scientists and, along the way, form a familial bond stronger than any bloodline could ever be.  While the first book was a set up for the series, bringing the young women together, introducing each of them to the readers and giving us background as to who and why they are - with that established, Goss has the freedom in the second book to expand the world, giving the story and more soap opera feel - which is meant to be a compliment!  Because now not only do we have a new escapade for the Athena Club to jump into (rescuing the daughter of Van Helsing, who has been locked away in a psychiatric ward for reasons unknown), but we get more involvement from the supporting cast (in one instance, it is in the most surprising and unexpected way) and subplots are introduced that will clearly lead into future stories.

Due to the length of the book, it is broken up into two parts - Book One provides the tale of how the girls get from London to Vienna as they begin their search for Lucinda Van Helsing after Mary gets a telegram from Ms. Van Helsing informing her that Mary's former governess and teacher, one Miss Wilhelmena Murray, had recommended she reach out to Mary for help.  Book Two offers up the conclusion to this particular story, as the girls head from Vienna to Budapest, where they must not only face off against Van Helsing and his blood-thirsty army, but they must convince the Alchemical Society to put a stop to all of the experiments that have created women such as they.

And that is not the only division in this book.  Goss also breaks the team apart for separate missions in this story.  As Mary and Justine head off for Vienna (along with Diana, who, unbeknownst to them, has stowed away for the trip) to meet up with Irene Adler Norton, who, at the bequest of Sherlock Holmes, will help the women locate Ms. Van Helsing, Catherine and Beatrice go undercover of sorts to learn just what Dr. Seward is up to at the asylum with the intent of joining Mary and the others later.  The book alternates narratives, following Mary, Justine and Diana for a bit, then going back and relating the events that have transpired simultaneously with Catherine, Beatrice, and the young maid, Alice (who goes from a small supporting character to a much more integral part of the tale!).  Ultimately, what Catherine and Beatrice discover reveals a much deadlier plot than any of them had envisioned, and under the guise of joining the circus in which Catherine once performed, they head for Vienna to meet up with their fellow Athena Club members to stop Van Helsing, Seward, and their devious plans for the world!

There's plenty of adventure, danger, trickery, blackmailing, betrayal, surprises, secrets, and suspense to keep the reader turning page after page after page for all 700+ pages of this story!  There's never a dull moment, as the Athena Club (and the reader!) learn more about Lucinda Van Helsing and who, and what!, she is, and Mary, Justine, and the others discover that there were more secrets in their own past that, when revealed, cause some drastic changes to who and what they thought they already knew about themselves.  Marry and Diana come face-to-face with their father!  Justine comes face-to-face with the monster who was determined to make her his bride!  Beatrice comes face-to-face with love once again, a love that she knows can never be! And Catherine comes face-to-face with the man she thought she would never see again - the man who claimed to love her, but left her to the mercy of a mad scientist on an island of deadly creations!  And in this second book, the Athena Club is introduced to two new potential members - a young woman whose life depends on drinking the blood of living beings and a young girl who can, quite literally, make herself disappear!  A vampire and the invisible woman - yet two more "creatures" of the horror stories of literature have joined the ensemble to keep things interesting (as if they weren't interesting enough!?).

 

From the streets of Vienna to the dark, foreboding castle of Mr. Hyde ... from the cottage of a 300-year old vampire and her faithful lover to the hidden weapons room of Irene Adler Norton's fine home ... from a monastery training a vampire army to the Academy of Sciences where a final deadly battle is waiting to happen.  The Athena Club truly travels the European countryside in this grand adventure, and Goss provides readers with a beautiful description of the countryside, the grandeur of the cities, and the Gothic darkness of the cold, stone castle that makes the reader feel as if he or she were there right along with Mary and the gang.

Oh, and did I mention the subplot involving Sherlock Holmes' disappearance?  And Irene Adler Norton's own secret mission?  And the domineering woman who has taken a sudden - and deadly! - interest in young, sweet Alice?  Well, stay tuned, as there will certainly be more about those things in books yet to come!

I am so glad that I decided to dive into this series, as it is proving to be a spectacularly fun read, and I absolutely enjoy the interruptions by the characters throughout the story as Mary, Diana, Justine, Beatrice, Alice, Mrs. Pool, and even Catherine herself (who is allegedly writing the tale) interpose their thoughts and opinions about the events and the way Catherine is telling them.  It adds a certain reality to a thoroughly unrealistic story and further expands on the characters in a three-dimensional way that normal story-telling techniques could not accomplish.   And I laughed at the constant reference to the first book in this series and its availability for purchase by readers of this book (albeit at the cost that would have been appropriate at the time this story is allegedly taking place).  It was reminiscent of the old Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books that always referenced the previous mystery at the beginning of each book.

Definitely this is a series that I would HIGHLY recommend, no matter what genre of story you may normally enjoy.  Theodora Goss knows how to write an engaging, suspenseful tale that will keep your attention from beginning to end!

RATING:  10 rolls with butter and jam out of 10 for holding nothing back and not being afraid to tell a superbly written tale in a most unique way (and not worrying about how many pages it took to tell it!)

The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter - the First Extraordinary Adventure of the Athena Club

The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter is a book I had seen on the shelf of the science fiction department in Barnes & Noble on several occasions, and I had even picked it up and read the description on the back at least once. Invariably, though, I always put it back on the shelf, as I found other books in series I already collect to buy. Recently, though, I found nothing else to buy, and - well, let's face it - I can't go into a Barnes & Noble and walk out without at least one book! So, I picked up this first book in the Extraordinary Adventures of the Athena Club and figured I would give it a shot.  Boy, oh boy, am I sure glad that I did!

Theodora Goss has a definitely hit on her hands with this series! The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter is a unique romp in a world populated with numerous fictional characters from various classic monster tales throughout the years (as well as a very popular British detective and his physician sidekick)! I knew the story was about Mary Jeckyll, the daughter of the infamous Dr. Jeckyll, and how she sets out to find her father's assistant, one Edward Hyde, in order to earn the reward for his capture. What I did not realize was that this adventure would lead Mary to discover a sister in Diana Hyde, the daughter of Edward Hyde, and comrades and fellow "monsters" of sorts in Beatrice Rappaccini (a girl who breathes poison, the daughter of medical researcher Dr. Giacomo Rappaccini); Catherine Moreau (a puma turned into a human girl by the mad scientist Dr. Moreau); and Justine Frankenstein (the female creation of the crazed surgeon, Dr. Victor Frankentsein). After rescuing Diana from a society set on reforming ladies of the evening, saving Beatrice from a scientist exploiting her deadly condition, and gathering Catherine and Justine from a traveling circus, Mary finds that the four young women become an important part of her life and invites them to stay in her home - and thus is born the Athena Club!

Goss integrates a number of the supporting characters from the various classics - from Renfield to Edward Prendick, among others - thus remaining true to the source material, while expounding greatly on the lives of these young women who, in the original classics, are cast aside and made to be of much less import than their male counterparts.  Goss empowers these five monstrous women, giving each of them strong, yet differing, personalities that play well off of each other, and allowing their non-human natures to add to their character, not detract.  As for the mystery itself - even though Sherlock Holmes is there to offer his insight and observations, the story follows Mary and her friends as they hunt down clues as to her father, Mr. Hyde (who she is only just beginning to suspect may be one and the same with her father), and the Societe ds Alchimistes (a/k/a Alchemist Society), who are conducting horrific experiments on women in an effort to further the evolution of mankind. There are plenty of lies, plenty of close calls, a kidnapping or two, some bodacious brawls, and an explosive climactic confrontation with the villains of this tale - basically, there is enough craziness throughout the entire book to keep the reader thoroughly engaged!

And one thing Goss does that was at first a bit jarring, but eventually became a narrative tool that I grew to enjoy was the interjections by the characters throughout the story. You see, in the story, Catherine is "writing" this adventure, and the other characters are providing their thoughts and insights as to what happened along the way, to help her as she writes the story.  Thus, throughout the entire book, there are sudden interjections by Mary, Diana (and boy, does she interrupt!), Justine, Beatrice, and even Mrs. Poole and Alice (the housekeeper and the scullery maid), commenting on the story, correcting Catherine's descriptions, and outright contradicting the dialogue and facts written down by Catherine in the story.  These interruptions further develop the characters and provide the reader with greater insight into the girls' relationships with one another, as well as their own personalities and quirks.    By the end of the book, I found that I enjoyed the interjections just as much as the story itself.  Definitely a unique way of telling the story - hope she continues in this format with the other books in the series.

Another thing I must make note of - on page 115, when Mary and Diana are off to rescue Beatrice, the girls come across shelves of jars containing various body parts - and one of them is labeled: "BRAIN OF CHARLES BABBAGE, MATHEMATICIAN."  Now, I would likely not have known this name had it not been for Chris Riddell and his "Goth Girl" series, for in that series, there is a Dr. Babbage, who is an inventor who is trying to create a calculating machine, and who in real life, was a mathematician, inventor, philosopher, and mechanical engineer.  I smiled, when I realized that the old saying really is true - the more you read, the more you know!

If there is anything that truly sums up the absurdity (in a good - no, a GREAT way) of this book, it is the last paragraph of Chapter XII, which reads: "Catherine was already supporting Justine on one side, and she would need to support Justine on the other, since Diana was too short and Mrs. Poole wasn't strong enough to help the Giantess upstairs. And Beatrice, of course, was poisonous. No, Mary's life was definitely no longer ordinary..."

RATING:  10 heavy brass watch fobs out of 10 for an entirely new vision of mystery, sci-fi, and horror all rolled into one with strong female protagonists who can definitely hold their own!