Well-done, yet unfortunately, it wears a bit thin: I picked this book up after reading a piece in which China Mieville recommended it, and I really wanted to like it more than I did. The authors certainly faithfully reproduce the sound and feel of the mid-Victorian English lower aristocracy quite well, and in general, their historical re-imaginings were acceptably within the realm of the possible. The atmosphere of High Philosophy lent an edge of gravitas to the political hijinks going on (Hegel's Science of Logic is a recurring motif, although that is not his most influential work; The Phenomenology of Spirit is), and Friedrich Engels makes a cameo appearance that is fun too. The problem for me was that the epistolary style is just so incredibly dense, even rather foreign, that it took me forever to wade through the book. Usually I don't care for the complaint that a book is too long, but in this instance, I find it apt. I was enjoying it through about page 300 or so, but thereafter I was quite ready for them to start wrapping things up, yet there were still 200 increasingly tedious pages to go. This one's a tough call, then: I'd recommend it if you're a patient reader and inclined toward Victorian literature like Dickens or Thackeray or Eliot. But if you just want a ripping good yarn and don't want to have to work overly hard for a payoff (and, in my opinion, it wasn't too great an ending), and/or if you're expecting science fiction or fantasy, well, this probably isn't going to be your cup of tea. Myself, I probably could have used a half-cup instead, and with perhaps a little more sweetener....

Not quite fantasy, but a novel in letters told by two very accomplished writers. I liked it. ( )

I first read this about 4 or 5 years ago, and it blew me away. So when somebody mentioned it a couple of months ago, I decided to take the chance and put it back in my TBR pile, and see if I still felt the same.

I did.

Freedom and Necessity was written by two of my favorite fantasy authors, but it's historical fiction, not fantasy. It takes place in the mid-19th century, and is told entirely in letters and journal entries.

As the book opens, James Cobham is writing to his cousin Richard to inform him that he, James, is not dead. He has only vague memories of the past months, up until the time he arrived, ill and injured, at the inn where he's now working as a groom. Despite his lack of memory, he cautions Richard that he might want to keep James's resurrection quiet until they can discover where he's been and what happened to him.

Working parallel to the cousins is a distant cousin, Susan Voight. She's long been attracted to and fascinated by James, and with the news of his death, she's set out to discover his past--in particular, what happened when he'd disappeared before--in order, she tells herself, to find that he was just ordinary after all and exorcise him from her heart and mind.

Rounding out the main characters is Susan's best friend, James's stepsister Kitty, a devotee of spiritualism, who's "living in sin" with Richard.

They're all intellectuals and philosophers, though James has taken it further than the rest, and involved himself in radical political reform. (Friedrich Engels is a secondary character.) As the clues emerge, it seems that a combination of politics and the sinister Trotters Club is behind James's disappearance and the continued danger to him.

The clues are revealed slowly, in bits and pieces, and the reader has to actually interpret some of them. It's such a lovely novelty to not have everything spoon-fed to you.

In addition, there's a heart-wrenchingly intense romance between Susan and James, made all the better because they're both such great characters. Both strong, both extremely intelligent, both principled to a fault. Neither one gives the other an easy time.

It's a slow, demanding read, but it's also one to savor. Normally, I get impatient with slow reads, but not with this one. ( )

A wonderful bit of historical fantasy, set in the 19th century with Engels as a major character. This is truly a lovely tale. ( )

http://www.amaranth.aviators.net/Book... ( )