Saturday 27 July 2013

Book Review: The Peculiars by Maureen Doyle McQuerry

Final Cover
Click on the cover to go to the Goodreads' page!
Genre: Steampunk, Fantasy, Romance
Age: 12-adult
Published: 1st May 2012
Publisher: Amulet Books
Purchase: Amazon| Book Depository


"This dark and thrilling adventure, with an unforgettable heroine, will captivate fans of steampunk, fantasy, and romance.
On her 18th birthday, Lena Mattacascar decides to search for her father, who disappeared into the northern wilderness of Scree when Lena was young. Scree is inhabited by Peculiars, people whose unusual characteristics make them unacceptable to modern society. Lena wonders if her father is the source of her own extraordinary characteristics and if she, too, is Peculiar. On the train she meets a young librarian, Jimson Quiggley, who is traveling to a town on the edge of Scree to work in the home and library of the inventor Mr. Beasley. The train is stopped by men being chased by the handsome young marshal Thomas Saltre. When Saltre learns who Lena’s father is, he convinces her to spy on Mr. Beasley and the strange folk who disappear into his home, Zephyr House. A daring escape in an aerocopter leads Lena into the wilds of Scree to confront her deepest fears."


After reading the blurb, it didn’t excite me at all and I wasn’t compelled to read this book. Since I have the ARC, the cover was boring, dull and it put me off reading the book but, the final cover I’ve seen is beautiful!
 
The story starts out really, really slow and it wasn’t very interesting at all and I did find myself skim reading.
 
Lena is a good girl and quite irritating at times. She was impulsive, kind of ungrateful, disloyal at times and was completely blind! It was so clear how she was being manipulated but she didn’t see it and that caused a whole lot of trouble- for her and other people who were her friends and allies. The bad guy might as well have had a tattoo saying ‘I’m the bad guy..Yes me!!!!!’ on his forehead. That was how obvious it was! It made Lena being fooled quite unrealistic.
 
I would say that my favourite characters from this book was Jimson and Mrs Mumbles (the cat). Jimson was loyal and quite sweet, to be honest. He was optimistic about everything (most of the time!) and it was adorable to see how he saw the beauty in Lena, even though she had quite unique and unusual characteristics.
Mrs Mumbles was a very unique cat. She was loyal and very protective of the people she loved. In my opinion, cats in reality do not behave in this manner at all.
 
At the end, much more interesting things were happening, like Lena slowly developing as a person and heroine but, it was a shame that the book only made me interested at the end.
 
This book does emphasise how in society in 1800s or even now, people who are different can be treated as outcasts .They haven’t been given a chance to show who they really are and people assume things about them because of stereotypical views.
 
I think this book had an very original plot that I’ve never read before but, the author could’ve added more action and made the heroine more strong and independent in the beginning. Also, there was barely any romance at all! Just a few glances and a near kiss... not really romance. Finally, I think other people would enjoy this more than me as I felt this wasn’t exactly my cup of tea.
 




 



 



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