actual rating : 4.5 list of ways to make an already perfect book series even better:1. add vampires 2. see #1

So much fun and I love the characters. More please!

So...this took me a LONG time to finish. I absolutely loved the first book in this series, and was eagerly awaiting the sequel. Unfortunately, this didn’t quite live up to my expectations. This could’ve been two hundred pages shorter and nothing would’ve been lost. There were SO many unnecessary details in this, from what the countryside looked like to every single the thing the girls were eating to the extremely detailed furnishings of houses. I don’t need any of that, and a lot of it was extre...

You may remember I recently gushed over the first book in the Athena Club series, The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter.Today I'm bummed to report that while I enjoyed book two, it didn't hold my attention nearly as well as the first book!The members of the Athena Club have fallen into somewhat of a routine in the three months since they met and helped Holmes and Watson solve the Whitechapel Murders.When Mary receives a telegram that Lucinda Van Helsing has been kidnapped, the Athena Club...

#1) The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter ★★★★☆i can't believe this is over 700 pages Blog • Trigger Warning Database • Twitter • Instagram

The Mary and Diana Show hits the road as the monstrous gentlewomen head off to save another of their newly discovered and imperilled "sisters", Lucinda Van Helsing. This time, the Athena Club is split as they head up separate but linked investigations into activities of the Societé des Alchimistes. It was interesting watching the two groups function with members that would not automatically have gravitated together (Mary and Justine (and of course Diana), and Catherine and Beatrice.) The interpe...

I read it twice and really enjoyed it but it could've been split into two books

Review first posted on Fantasy Literature:Theodora Goss’s THE EXTRAORDINARY ADVENTURES OF THE ATHENA CLUB Victorian-era fantasy series brings together a valiant group of women who are the results of men’s scientific experiments: men like Dr. Moreau, Dr. Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll and others. In this series, the women characters ― several of whom perished in the original nineteenth-century stories ― not only survive but thrive. Calling themselves the Athena Club, Mary Jekyll, her sister Diana Hyde,...

This is a very comfortable and comforting read, assuming: A: You're a big fan of all the classic Victorian (or nearby) Horrors, SFs and Fantasies of the day.B: You love it when minor female characters get catapulted into the limelight in frankly feminist adventures with cultured justice in mind.C: You love roadtrip novels. Me? I love roadtrip novels of all kinds. We even got an actual horseless carriage in this one! But mostly it was trains (Orient express!), back-country inns, and a full Europe...

LOVELOVELOVELOVELOVE ITIrene Adler are you KIDDING ME?!When Mary is jealous and asks Watson who she is and Watson says “the love of his life” I ‘bout wet myself. Dracula?! Are you DOUBLE DOG KIDDING ME?!I had no idea what the book would be about going in and I’m so happy I did that. The Dracula and Van Helsing surprises were fantastic. I adore this audio so much. The accents are superb. I followed along with the book to tab and highlight. And I tabbed the ever loving shit out of it too.

***2019 The Summer of Sherlock*** The second book of this series is every bit as delightful as the first one was. This is the continuing adventure of Mary Jekyll, Diana Hyde, Justine Frankenstein, Catherine Moreau, and Beatrice Rappaccini. The delight, for me, came with all the late Victorian references that the author throws into the salad. I’m starting to wonder which ones I overlooked out of sheer ignorance of the literature of the time period.Needless to say, since She: A History of Adven

This book is 700 pages. It could have been 300. Way too long and excessively padded on the word count. Otherwise I loved the story just like I loved the first one. But seriously why wasn't this edited down?

Well that took [looks at calendar] literally three weeks. And not even because I spent a lot of time actually reading the book because oh boy did my skimming skills get put to use here, but more because I just could not bring myself to keep picking it back up. I finally powered through the last 30% last night because I just couldn't stand it anymore. Anyway, I gave it two stars in the most 'A for effort' rating that I have ever doled out because while it was the most boring thing ever, it did no...

The further adventures of the Athena Club continuing from The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter (two shillings from reputable booksellers).The members of the Athena Club travel to Eastern Europe to rescue Lucinda Van Helsing, a young dutch woman who's been experimented on and imprisoned by her father. On the way they encounter more opposition from the Société des Alchimistes as well as encountering a variety of other famous figures of the period, both real and imagined. Mary Jekyll, Diana...

I love this series. The second was even better than the first. The writing, plot, characters, setting were all done impeccably. I love how witty and clever the dialogue is and also just the structure of the story itself. I was captivated and engrossed all the way through. The fact that she is able to make classic characters in literature fresh and exciting is so impressive to me. I cannot wait for the third book to come out.

I LOVED the Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter, and I couldn't wait for the second book in the series to come out. So I was hugely disappointed to find that it didn't stand up to the excellence of the first book.I still liked most of the main characters, but I had big problems with Mary and Cat. Why has Mary suddenly turned stupid??? She was smart and brave in the first book, but in this book she has suddenly become completely dense. The number of times she 'had no idea what was going on'