The Book of Dead Days

This book has elements of Dicken's 'Christmas Carol' and conjured up a rather TimBurton-esque storyscape for me. I joined in the adventure slinking in the dark and narrow alleyways, prowling in dim light -- searching, and cloistered somewhere dank and cramped. It is a story of what we sometimes are willing to sell our souls for -- and how well we honor our part of the deal when destiny / fate / the devil comes collecting. Perhaps, this was meant to be introspective or philosophical, and it was somewhat for me. Despite the rather morbid title, it was an enjoyable and good read.

This was my introduction to Marcus Sedgwick's work. Deliciously dark but maybe a bit of a slow read to some. I read it when I was a teenager and got it at a book fair (Yeah, remember those things? Simpler times) It comes equipped with magic, demons, Faustian-style pacts, and gloominess. While I rate this book somewhere between 3.5-4 stars, that is still a fairly strong rating. It's not my favorite work by Sedgwick, but it's worthy to have in my library. If I re-read it, I may update the rating if I feel the need to.

I spent most of this book having absolutely no idea what was going on, but in kind of a good way. Boy lives in an unspecified city in Victorian Europe as the servant/companion of grumpy magician Valerian. When the owner of the theater where Valerian performs turns up dead, Boy and Willow (the servant of a singer at that same theater) are the prime suspects. In addition, Valerian is scrambling to find a certain book within the next few days or else face certain doom. I loved the strange semi-magical qualities of this realm, and I was glad that the last page labeled it as Book One because there are all kinds of loose ends left dangling. I would read the next book in the series were I to happen upon it, but I won't be actively seeking it show more out. Interesting universe, just not one I'm dying to get back to. show less

I swear, pretty soon I'm going to abandon "adult" fantasy entirely for young-adult and be happy about it. This is wonderful and gothic and really pretty damn creepy, with a very nice Venitian Steampunk going on.

Interesting period piece that dwells in fantasy while staying realistic, even mentioning characters from the true past such as the German mathematician, astronomer and astrologer Kepler. It can get a little slow and boring, but leave many unsolved mysteries to keep the reader enticed.

When I first read this, I was like 9-10 years old and I thought it was well written but the Death of Korps freaked me out so I stopped reading it. Years later and I remembered the summary of this book but not the name or cover so I asked a book group on goodreads (titled: WHATS THE NAME OF THAT BOOK????) to help me out, within a few hours, I got a reply and I confirmed it was the book, I’ll come back to thank the person who solved it for me on this review later.
(THANK YOU AGAIN BECCA! YOU’RE AWESOME!!!!!)

The book started off well, it had promise of the dead days and a good mystery at first with all these deaths what force it was that was coming for valerian. This book is very plot driven which I appreciate but at times it show more doesn’t line up with the characters either. It felt that the “kids are smart and adults are creepy and mean” trope which at the time of the writing, YA was still in its infancy so I’m not surprised by that. I gave it three stars because the plot has potential and the pacing was good and I liked the concept of the dead days being used in here. show less

The concept of this book is great. The holidays of Christmas and New Years were once pagan holidays that represented something entirely different, and Sedgwick really plays on that to create something interesting. However, the execution is not as entertaining as the concept. Sedgwick’s writing is intricate, but a bit stilted and the reader often has to plow through it in order to get to the climax. Also, it almost seems as if there’s more back story necessary to make sense of many of the elements that happen throughout the narrative. The mystery teeters into the realm of confusing, and it’s just not enough to carry throughout the story.-Lindsey Miller, www.lindseyslibrary.com