4.5 STAR BOOK REVIEW - THE PECULIAR by STEFAN BACHMANN

 

THE PECULIAR

by

STEFAN BACHMANN

Publisher:  HarperCollins

Pages:  Paperback, 384

Acquired: Rcvd from publisher for honest review

RATING:  4.5 CHANGELING STARS!

Goodreads Description:

 Don't get yourself noticed and you won't get yourself hanged.

In the faery slums of Bath, Bartholomew Kettle and his sister Hettie live by these words. Bartholomew and Hettie are changelings--Peculiars--and neither faeries nor humans want anything to do with them.

One day a mysterious lady in a plum-colored dress comes gliding down Old Crow Alley. Bartholomew watches her through his window. Who is she? What does she want? And when Bartholomew witnesses the lady whisking away, in a whirling ring of feathers, the boy who lives across the alley--Bartholomew forgets the rules and gets himself noticed.

First he's noticed by the lady in plum herself, then by something darkly magical and mysterious, by Jack Box and the Raggedy Man, by the powerful Mr. Lickerish . . . and by Arthur Jelliby, a young man trying to slip through the world unnoticed, too, and who, against all odds, offers Bartholomew friendship and a way to belong.

Part murder mystery, part gothic fantasy, part steampunk adventure, The Peculiar is Stefan Bachmann's riveting, inventive, and unforgettable debut novel.

MARISSA'S REVIEW:
If you disregard the age of Stefan Bachmann when he first wrote The Peculiar, you will find that The Peculiar is book for most ages filled with an amazing world of a dark and dirty Bath, England where fae are thwarted and the mixbreed changelings are killed for....well for just being changelings!

Now.....put back into the equation, the fact that Stefan Bachmann was infact only 16 years old when he wrote The Peculiar....the mind starts to boggle with amazement.

Admittedly, the first couple of chapters had my head a little dazed. The beginning few chapters chopped between the characters of Bartholomew Kettle and Mr Arthur Jelliby.  With no direct character incluson in the chapter title I felt I was jumping too much - maybe I'd just been spoilt by authors stating the obvious for me!  Saying that, once I fell into the story I didnt notice! 

Aimed at a middle grade audience, I do feel that many in that group will find some of it above their general knowledge level.  Hell....I have a fairly normal adult grasp on the English language and I got stuck a couple of times!!

Back to the story........
The fae in this book have entered the human world - and it all went wrong. They are now being kept in the human world that not only doesn't want them there.....but won't let them go back to their world either.  Somewhere along the way some Fae and humans became involved (secretly) and the resulting effect were changelings - Peculiars.  Barty and his sister Hettie are two such products.  What makes a Peculiar different from normal children? Well, Hettie has tree branches growing from her head instead of hair!!  

Barty witnesses a kidnapping one day.....and if being a Peciluar wasn't dangerous enough - he now has this to add to his problems. And the danger will come for Hettie as well.

Barty partners up with an odd parliamentarian, Arthur Jelliby.  Fairly non-descript and non eventful human by everyone's standards.  The two form an alliance and........ well you can just get the book and read it!!!!  

It's a dark Steampunk/Fantasy where you can feel the bitter and twistedness of the society. And it's good!!

ENJOY!

MARISSA