The Spiritglass Charade

This was a very fun book, and I think I enjoyed it more than the first installment. Gleason does a great job contrasting the voices of the two main characters, Sherlock Holmes' niece and Bram Stoker's sister. Holmes and Stoker alternate as narrators of the chapters, and while this device usually annoys me, I found that it worked well in this book. The two characters are very different, but both generally sympathetic. This book does a good job balancing excitement, humor, and seriousness. Gleason also manages some original and strong world-building without it being overly complicated. A fun read.

With awesome clockwork, a multi-level steampunk London I wish I could inhabit, and two tenacious but mismatched female main characters, The Spriritglass Charade has twice its share of fun. Gawky analytical Mina Holmes, niece of Sherlock, and impulsive vampire-hunting Evaline Stocker, half sister to Bram, have an uneasy crime-solving partnership. It’s observation, deduction, and carefully laid plans vs. strength, speed, and plunging right on in at the hint of danger.

Irene Adler, known to Mina’s Uncle Sherlock as The Woman, brought the two together at the behest of Princess Alexandra, wife of Queen Victoria’s son Bertie. In this second adventure the young women are investigating a case that involves wily spiritual mediums, a show more distraught young heiress obsessed with seances, a missing younger brother, nefarious street ruffians, the possible reemergence of vampires, and of course murder. Both Mina and Evaline are eager to prove their villain capturing prowess, Mina because as a female she hasn’t been given many opportunities to employ the skills she’s honed, and Evaline because though it’s unfortunately quite difficult to find vampires these days she wants to show herself worthy of her vampire vanquishing ancestors.

Their version of Victorian era London is layered with multi-leveled walkways connected by coin-driven mechanical lifts--which keeps the poor on the dirty, darkest lower areas--and skyscrapers so tall they they’re topped with large balloons to serve as air anchors. I really want to visit the just reopened Vauxhall Gardens, where Mina and Eveline spend an evening chasing after clues. The revamped attraction is full of lovely mechanical wonders like motorized birds and butterflies that dart and flutter about, and gear-ridden fireflies that brighten the sky with colorful little lights.

Notable characters back from the first book include an over-sized Scotland Yard Detective who reluctantly trades investigative insights with Mina and then blasts around London on a gravity-defying steamcycle, an underworld far too appealing Cockney tough guy who banters and bickers with Evaline, and a cute cell phone toting young man from our own era who’s been unwittingly time-traveled back to this alternate London and is full of modern ideas that intrigue and inspire Mina.

Chapters alternate entertainingly between the contrasting voices of Mina and Evaline, and the action races along as the young women traipse through drawing rooms and lurk in back alley dives. The mystery is tied up nicely but several personal issues are left dangling and the book ends in a WOW of a revelation that ensures there will be at least one more joint Holmes-Stocker venture. Hurrah!

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through LibraryThing. Review opinions are mine. show less

The Spiritglass Charade is the second volume in Colleen Gleason’s young adult Stoker & Holmes series (the first was The Clockwork Scarab). Stoker and Holmes are not Bram and Sherlock. They’re Evaline (Bram’s younger sister) and Alvermina Holmes (niece of Sherlock, daughter of Mycroft). These women live in a steampunk, alternate version of Victorian England and work as investigators for the government, taking on cases that require female detectives.

The two women make an interesting team. Alvermina, who goes by the less-cumbersome Mina, lives with the company of a housekeeper. Her mother left the family. Her father is almost always occupied elsewhere on government business. She, like her better-known uncle, is highly logical and show more expert in all sorts of abstruse fields, what might be called a “right brain” type. She thinks of herself as plain—she has the “Holmes nose.”

Evaline, in contrast, is wealthier, a member of society by virtue of her brother’s theatrical fame, highly impetuous and intuitive and absolutely confident in her own attractiveness, what might be called a “left brain” type. She is also—surprise!—a venator: a hunter of vampires.

Given Evaline’s calling as a venator, it’s not surprising that working together is challenging for both women. Mina is reluctant to believe in the supernatural world Evaline inhabits. Evaline is irritated by Mina’s methodicalness—when the undead are present, immediate action is called for.

I admit that I am growing attached to these two young women. Reading The Clockwork Scarab, I wasn’t certain how successful this series would be. Now I’m hooked. This isn’t highbrow reading, but it’s too much fun to be missed. Besides Mina and Evaline the reader meets Irene Adler (of Conan Doyle’s “A Scandal in Bohemia”), employed by both the British Museum and the government’s intelligence-gathering arm; Dylan, an unwilling time-traveler from our Twenty-first Century; and Pix, a mysterious, sometimes threatening, presence in the London underworld, who deals in illicit electricity—this being a steampunk England, all means of power besides steam are outlawed.

In this England, cities are built in multiple layers and one must be able to afford fare for an elevator to move between them. The upper levels are supported by hot-air balloons. This is an age of invention, and nearly every apparatus imaginable has been invented, in a steam version, of course. There are equivalents to Segways and motorcycles, automated holders and page-turners for newspapers, even “Hystand’s Mechanized Eyelash-Combe.” If you can allow yourself to accept this improbable and uneven body of technology, you’ll have quite a good time.

In this volume, the two women are working on behalf of the Princess of Whales, who is concerned about a friend who has become prey to unscrupulous spiritualists as she attempts to contact her dead mother and locate her missing brother. Mina, of course, is determined to prove these spiritualist frauds; Evaline, while suspicious, feels they may well be genuine (there’s also the matter of a pair of mediums who know her childhood nickname of “Linney-Lou”).

My one complaint here is how quickly and completely both Mina and Evaline are beguiled by handsome young men. They’re delightful examples of independent young womanhood, but one wearies of them blushing in the presence of a number of young men who are recurring characters in the series. In their favor, however, they walk a fine line between the mores of their time and their own determination to live life as they choose. They fret regularly about propriety, but also acknowledge the pleasure of being kissed.

If you know a young woman in her mid-to-late teens, this book is apt to make an excellent gift, an invitation to fun and adventure, made even more interesting by its imaginative setting. And if, like me, you’re an adult reader, you’ll still enjoy this book as a sort of mini-vacation between other, more demanding volumes. show less

I requested this knowing it was the sequel to a book I'd checked out from the library once but never read, so I had to read the first one beforehand. And the first novel in the series, The Clockwork Scarab, was decent, as far as YA historical paranormal goes. The one really annoying thing was the unnecessary proliferation of attractive young males in the vicinity of the heroines. I didn't totally buy into either the world building--an alternate Victorian Britain in which vampires exist and steampunk elements abound--or the characters--the niece of Sherlock Holmes and younger sister of Bram Stoker. But it was short enough and easy enough to skim to be moderately enjoyable.

The first book wrapped up only its internal mystery, leaving show more plenty of possible intrigue for later volumes, but I hoped the ridiculous romantic elements would diminish. They didn't, alas, though they didn't get any worse, really. The unnecessary time travel element stayed in the background, but unfortunately, the silly vampire aspect increased. Really, it was just more of the same as the first one. Someone who likes paranormal more than historical/alternate historical and adventure more than mystery would probably like this series better than I did, so I'll be passing it on. show less

In contrast to some other reviews, I do like the two POV - you see the story from two different angles. I would have liked to see them a bit more dominant - like Irene. They can be a bit mushy...but they are young girls. Their awkward relationship makes for some interesting reading. I will read the next book to see where it leads.

The Spiritglass Charade is the second book teaming Holmes and Stoker (that would be Mina Holmes and Evaline Stoker), a steampunk young adult series. The two young ladies solve mysteries with panache and gadgets, and Evaline is (bonus!) a vampire slayer. The vampires in this series conveniently turn to dust, as per Buffy. The dialogue is occasionally awkward (especially the slang), but the story is nicely plotted and the two heroines are fun, as is the clockwork London where electricity is outlawed. My main quibble is the time travel element, which seems unnecessary. Reviewed for the LibraryThing Early Reviewer Program.

willikers, all these people. still charming and dumb, still super aggressively straight, but everyone's becoming a little more three dimensional, THANK GOD. also, I'm into this worldbuilding and would appreciate a crossover between these ladies and the finishing school cast, get on it.