The Bedlam Stacks: From the author of The Watchmaker of Filigree Street

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The cover alone made me desperate to get hold of this book, not to mention the description. Exploding trees? Strange events in Peru? Sign me up now, please! I nodded. He could have. But it felt good to have stood in front of him without flinching and, however stupid it was, I wanted to do it again. This is a difficult book for me to review. In many ways it's excellent, and I enjoyed it a great deal, but I feel like I only understand its flaws and am at a loss with regards to how Pulley makes the successful parts succeed.

The difference here of course, there is nothing covert about this storyline. As the story unfolds we learn that there is indeed an ulterior motive and far more sinister developments are underway. Oh and something else the SAS didn't have to deal with: sorcery. The characters here are interesting enough, though at times their words didn't seem to suit the time period. There's also a guest appearance from a character those who've read The Watchmaker of Filigree Street will recognise. A sweet inclusion, but ultimately just another weird moment for me. I cannot pin down what this story was trying for. I can’t really review this book without keeping the The Watchmaker of Filigree Street, Natasha Pulley’s debut, in mind and I apologies in advance for multiple comparisons between both books which I will be making. The whole pointlessness of the plot did bother me, as there seemed to be no real goal. There was obstacles as they appeared, but no real drive behind the story to hold the interest.

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If you read The Watchmaker of Filigree Street then you may already know this, but first time readers need to understand going into this book: it requires some patience. I wouldn't describe it as slow because changing the pace would be changing the feeling of the book itself, I would much rather describe it as peaceful and lovingly written. This book is a historical yet spellbinding journey about a group of smugglers sent on a journey to obtain the purest form of malaria antidote-medicine from the 18th century Peruvian quinine trees found deep within the mountains.

The relationships in the book are very...unsatisfying. Nothing comes of much of them, or they're handled almost superficially. I'm all for slow burns but not if they fizzle into nothing, not if you build up a sort of almost super-human devotion and allow it to go absolutely nowhere. As a reader, it felt like Pulley’s research into Peru - not just the country and the layout/scenery, but also the history and language - was very extensive and it really showed throughout her writing. I was drawn into this story from the very beginning – I loved the way that the fictional Tremaynes were insinuated into the family history of the real Tremayne family that used to live at Heligan – but even if I hadn’t known that very real place, where the lost gardens are open to visitors, I still would have been captivated. What I missed most was the kind of philosophical battle, which did occur at the end of the Watchmaker of Filigree Street, pitting free will and predestination against each other through characters which you could both support. If that sounds a bit much, that is because it is. In the end it did not surprise me, but did disappoint me, when we have a “giant eagle” style save by a Inca community floating in the clouds.Thus begins a slow-paced epic journey. Others have undertaken this journey before and few have survived it. And they were able-bodied men, whereas Tremayne can barely walk. Tremayne and his companion, his former naval colleague, Clements Markham. They are being sent to: There is a certain serene nonsensicalness to this. It has an edge of surrealism and fantasy added to a historical novel and a travelogue. In addition there is an element of steampunk as well. It is mainly set in Peru in and around the 1860s. It revolves around quinine and the attempts to steal some to be grown in other parts of the world. This is also an excuse for introducing plenty of references to Incan culture and mythology. So there are statures that move, pollen that does odd things, cloud cities, obsidian and much more.

I received an ARC of this novel from Bloomsbury Publishing in exchange for an honest review – all thoughts are my own. The Marqayuk' was whispered by the gardeners whenever the fog passed in the distance as they worked in the greenhouses. Tools of the enemy state. That however is not my real problem with the ending. My disappointment is more with the relationship status at the end, but the identities of the characters in fact might not leave any possible non-problematic relationship options, I'll discuss that more in the spoiler tags below though. Hart called this a queerplatonic romance, which fits well, but I would have liked something more solid at the end, be it sexual or not. You could read this book that asks questions about life and faith; or you simply enjoy a lovely journey through a world that is both real and fantastical.At this point I should explain that this isn’t a sequel or part of a series, that there is a character who appears in both books, but that this is a different story set at a different time in that same world. A sequel to "Just Us Girls" by hahafool Language: English Words: 2,691 Chapters: 1/1 Collections: 1 Comments: 5 Kudos: 5 Bookmarks: 1 Hits: 21 If you need an example of the cruelty of man and empire you have to look no farther than the slaughter and slavery of the Congo rubber trade. It's hard to root for a guy who is super chill about the Congo. And for a book which tosses that in there as an aside. More 'blink and you miss it' but with massacres. The novel is also historical fiction because the East India Company did send expeditions to Peru to obtain quinine from the bark of cinchona trees, desperately needed to treat its workers in the East who suffered from malaria. So there is another whole plot concerning the dastardly practices of people trying to bring cuttings of the tree out of Peru and the natives who seek to prevent this First World rip-off of their natural resources.

steal a plant whose exact location nobody knows, in territory now defended by quinine barons under the protection of the government, and inhabited by tribal Indians who also hate foreigners and have killed everyone who’s got close in the last ten years.’ Disclaimer: I received a free e-copy ARC of this book from NetGalley. Thank you to the publishers!] First of all, I'd like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. OK, so in the two volumes I've read so far of N K Jemison's Broken Earth trilogy, The Fifth Season and The Obelisk Gate, there are creatures called Stone Eaters, humans who turn to stone! Is this a thing? I have not come across this in any book before.) Definitely recommended for anyone to whom a queer platonic historical fantasy set in Peru sounds interesting. :) I will likely read this and Watchmaker again before Pulley's next book comes out.

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I must say that in terms of imaginative concepts and world building I thoroughly did like this book, if a bit overcrowded at times. Spoiler Warning: This article or section may contain spoilers. If this bothers you, proceed with caution. I’m so glad that I did. It was a lovely mixture of the familiar from the first book and the completely different and utterly right for this book; and it was set in the same slightly fanciful but utterly natural past that I wished could have been but that I know probably wasn’t.