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It begins in an unnamed city nicknamed "the Fairest", it is distinguished by many things from the river fair to the mountains that split the municipality in half; its theaters and many museums; the Morgue Ship; and, like all cities, but maybe especially so, by its essential unmappability.
Dora, a former domestic servant at the university has a secret desire—to understand the mystery of her brother's death, believing that the answer lies within The Museum of Psykical Research, where he worked when Dora was a child. With the city amidst a revolutionary upheaval, where citizens like Robert Barnes, her lover and a student radical, are now in positions of authority, Dora contrives to gain the curatorship of the half-forgotten museum only to find it all but burnt to the ground, with the neighboring museums oddly untouched. Robert offers her one of these, The National Museum of the Worker. However, neither this museum, nor the street it is hidden away on, nor Dora herself, are what they at first appear to be. Set against the backdrop of an oddly familiar and wondrous city on the verge of collapse, Dora's search for the truth will unravel a monstrous conspiracy and bring her to the edge of worlds.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
March 7, 2023 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9781797149165
- File size: 412471 KB
- Duration: 14:19:18
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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January 23, 2023
King (Double Feature) expands his 2014 short story of the same name with arresting results in this Victorian-esque fantasy that contains moments of both horror and humor. The offbeat tone is evident from the outset, as the novel’s setting, a city nicknamed “the Fairest,” is described as jutting “from the body of the country like a hangnail from a thumb.” The Fairest is in turmoil following a popular revolt, sparked, in part, by the callous shooting of a businessman by a government minister. In the wake of the government’s collapse, Dora, a former servant, seeks to understand the meaning of her beloved brother’s cryptic last words before he’d died of cholera: “Yes. I see you. Your... face.” To that end, she obtains a position in an occult research hub, The Museum of Psykical Research, with the aid of her lover, Robert Barnes, an officer in the rebels’ civil defense force. Her increasingly desperate efforts to ascertain what her brother meant play out against the ongoing upheavals. King’s creative worldbuilding is admirable and he makes even walk-on characters feel fully realized. Fans of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell will be especially enchanted. -
June 10, 2024
The city known as the "Fairest" is a magical yet chaotic place where cats are worshiped, and thieves, scholars, and conjurers all live as criminals, revolutionaries, and nobles. Dora, a retired domestic servant, is desperate to find the place to which her brother went after he died of cholera. Believing that the Museum of Psykical research holds the answers, she works to become the curator. Soon, she discovers more than she ever imagined, just as violent rebellion threatens the city's precarious underpinnings. King's (Double Feature) latest is a fantastical novel full of twists and turns. The many characters allow narrator Marin Ireland to showcase her talent as she gives each character their own dialect, tone, and cadence. Despite her talented reading, however, the sheer number of characters and moving pieces may be confusing for some. VERDICT This convoluted story, full of illusion and mystery, is perfect for readers of horror-laced fantasy. Fans of Erin Morgenstern's The Starless Sea, Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, or P. Djeli Clark's A Master of Djinn will find much to love.--Elyssa Everling
Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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