I loved this book! I was already a little spooked by puppets and magicians, and now this book has cemented those feelings forever! It's a great spooky read in a dramatic setting, full of villains and orphans and secrets. I couldn't put it down. If you like scary stories that are thrilling, but also fairytale-ish enough to keep it from being TOO scary, this is perfect. ( )

Great book! Didn't know if I was going to like it at the beginning, but I soon got into it and loved it! Very different from other books I've read in this genre. ( )

middle-grade fantasy. creepy magic and dark--very dark towards the end. definitely for older kids. ( )

Set mainly in London in 1860, Splendors and Glooms tells several stories: that of Clara, a rich girl whose four siblings, including a twin brother, died of cholera; of Lizzie Rose, orphaned daughter of actors; of Parsefall, plucked from the workhouse by puppeteer, magician, and thief, Grisini; and Cassandra, who possesses a magical fire opal that torments her.

Grisini, Lizzie Rose, and Parsefall perform a puppet show at Clara's birthday; soon after, she disappears, leaving her parents frantic over the fate of their one remaining child. Not long after, Grisini himself disappears - dead, Lizzie Rose and Parsefall hope, but it's not so. Cassandra lures the two children to Strachan Ghyll, hoping one of them will steal the opal and relieve her of it - but it's Clara, imprisoned as one of the fantoccini by Grisini, who saves Cassandra, and Lizzie Rose and Parsefall who save Clara in turn.

Victorian, darkly magical.

See also: Liesl & Po by Lauren Oliver

Quotes

"I should have thought that today's incident might teach Clara the value of repressing her feelings." (Dr. Wintermute, 41)

"Magic power cannot be had for nothing. There must always be some sacrifice. You of all people ought to know that." (Gaspare Grisini to Cassandra Strachan Sagredo, 129)

Her anguish increased his own. (Dr. Wintermute and Ada Wintermute, 172)

His heart seemed to stand still. At the same time, he was quite composed; the worst had happened and nothing could ever hurt him again. (178)

"You know how it is. Someone pretends to love you, and you give too much away." (Cassandra to Clara, 215)

:If someone offers you something you want, you should take it." (Cassandra to Lizzie Rose, 352)

"That she should hate me, that she should forgive me: either one is a torment. For seventy years, [Marguerite] has haunted me." (357) ( )

This one is dark, dark, dark. It has all the elements of a truly macabre tale: fire, fog, ice, blood, and, of course, orphans.

Gaspare Grisini does marionette shows with his two charges, Parsefall and Lizzie Rose. He has taken them in, but he is certainly not fatherly. The day after performing in the Wintermute home for Clara Wintermute’s birthday party, the children discover that Clara has gone missing and suspect Grisini. But what has he done with her?

Their problems are compounded when Grisini hurts himself in a fall and disappears. The children intercept a letter addressed to him and decide to find its author, a rich and lonely old woman named Cassandra, in hopes that they might inherit her fortune when she dies. It is in Cassandra’s home that the children begin to uncover the mystery of Clara, Grisini, and the deadly stone known as the fire opal.

Full of black magic, mind possession, and creepy marionettes, Splendors and Glooms is plenty dark to satisfy readers who ate up A Tale Dark and Grimm and A Series of Unfortunate Events. ( )