Ishbelle Bee

Well, Ishbelle Bee has done it again. After my wonderful experience reading The Singular and Extraordinary Tale of Mirror and Goliath (I can truly only describe reading it as an experience), I was anxious to see where Bee was going to take both her characters and us, the reader, and I am tickled by the result.

This time around, I feel like Ms Bee really let herself take off with the story; she has a much clearer idea of who the characters are that inhabit her world, and what a fine and madcap show more cast they are! Mr Loveheart is back this time, along with White & Walnut of Scotland Yard, and they are joined by a wild new group of characters: Pedrock and Boo Boo, orphans sent to live with their relatives in the village of Darkwound, where we also Mr Loveheart and his various, colorful neighbors; Professor Hummingbird, a butterfly aficionado; and Mr Angel-Cakes, Boo Boo's mysterious, and possibly quite deadly, imaginary friend. Ms Bee has injected an entirely fantastic level of humor into her story, reminding me of Gail Carriger's books. Here again, the lack of explanation, just the necessity to accept the magic in her world is expertly wielded, and something that I'm very happy to see carried over from the first book.

Needless to say Ishbelle Bee has completely won me over, and I can only hope that we have a great many more adventures with Mr Loveheart to look forward to!

I need to take a moment again to comment on the cover! Somebody at Angry Robot is doing a bang-up job on these covers, and I desperately wish that as we are given more adventures with Mr Loveheart, we are also given more of these gorgeous covers. Beautiful marketing, Angry Robot! Keep up the good work. show less

So... I don't even know where to start with Ishbelle Bee's The Singular and Extraordinary Tale of Mirror and Goliath. This will probably be ranking as one of my favorite books of the year, but I can't tell you a think about it! I'm not entirely clear I understand what I read or understand what was going on, but I loved every minute of it. The story follows the strange events surrounding Mirror (who may or may not be dead) and her shape-changing protector, Goliath Honey-Flower, who are trying show more to figure out what it wrong with Mirror, since she has been altered since her grandfather locked her in a strange, coffin-shaped clock. Then there is John Loveheart, who may or may not be wicked, and his "adopted" father, Mr. Fingers, the lord of the underworld. Throw in the personification of Death, time travel, an Egyptian princess, eccentric serial killers, quirky Victorian sensibilities, and a secret group trying to live forever, and you've got yourself a rather unusual cast and series of plot points.

The writing is beautiful (tho slightly choppy in some spots), and the imagery is quite vivid (plus, I love when Bee plays with type size and spacing in certain scenes to give a sense of the action going on using the typographic structure of the sentence - nice touch!). Ishbelle Bee doesn't rely heavily of overt description on how the magic works in her world; we, as the reader, just accept that's how it is and move on with the story. These elements reminded me of Susanna Clarke or even Neil Gaiman; the world they create is strange, dangerous, and beautiful, but we don't need to slapped over the head with heavy descriptions, it just is what it is, and Bee conjures that same sense of suspended reality in her book, and I'm anxious for more from her.

And let us take a moment to appreciate the cover to this book, shall we, because it is gorgeous. show less

A penny dreadful fairy tale - Delightfully dark, wonderfully wicked – highly original!

I am so pleased I chose this book for review. I enjoyed every page and now I’ve finished it I feel like I could read it all again and enjoy it just as much.

“1888. A little girl called Mirror and her shape-shifting guardian Goliath Honeyflower are washed up on the shores of Victorian England. Something has been wrong with Mirror since the day her grandfather locked her inside a mysterious clock that show more was painted all over with ladybirds.”

There is a lovely blending of fairy tale and horror with this novel and when I began reading this story I thought, “Ok, is this a child’s way of making up stories and coping with her trauma or not? Or is it real?” I was delighted to discover when I read there was just so much more going on with this story.

I think to describe Bee’s novel as a penny dreadful fairy tale might come close to giving you a feel for this book. The writing is wonderful. The use of imagery, colour (I know it’s a book not a film, but you’ll get this ref when you read it!) is superb and immerses you in this world. I particularly loved the use of odd fonts and different spacing for some of the text as an excellent way of highlighting the madness of some of the characters.

I had many laugh out loud moments while reading this due to the excellent dialogue and characterisations. Seriously – Mr Loveheart turns out to be a wonderfully deranged hero and I'm glad this is marked as book 1 in his adventures, because the world needs to see more of Mr Loveheart!

There are many interconnected sub-stories here and the book jumps about in terms of time periods; some readers may not cope with this. However, I loved these extra stories and didn’t mind the jumps in time. In fact, I think, given the nature of Mirror’s gift and that she is a child, those jumps were highly appropriate. It does mean though, that you’ve got to concentrate on reading at least until you get into the swing of things.

This is a five out of five stars rating and I hardly ever say that. I really didn’t want to put it down or for it to end! I will be on the lookout for more books by this author.

Bravo Ishbelle Bee!

(Release date 2 June, 2015) show less

This might be the strangest book I've ever read. If not, it's definitely up there. Imagine maybe Neil Gaiman's American Gods mish-mashed with a fairy tale, written by the lovechild of Stephen King and Dave Barry. That's not precisely right but about as close as I'm going to get. I'd give this maybe 2 stars in terms of plot, but add at least a star or more for sheer zaniness, humor, and an interesting character (Mr. Loveheart). A fun light read, despite all the severed heads.