It only took a month, but I have finally concluded my tour of Zoe Archer's Victorian fantasy wonderland. Indeed, Stranger, the story of Gemma Murphy and Catullus Graves, capitalized on all of the events of the previous three books, and picked up almost precisely where Rebel left off.
I need to start this review with a complaint, because this is how much this is bothering me: I am so over Astrid and Nathan. Over. Them. Over them having loud sex in the room next door. Over them making out in front of everyone all the time. Over Astrid saying, "There's a rampaging mythological monarch on the loose, save the seduction for a less desperate time." I literally sat up in my chair and said, "Astrid, stop being such a hypocritical bitch." Boy Scout just looked at me like I was nuts.
Anyway. On to the real stars of the book (not to be confused with Astrid and Nathan's heated glances at one another), the American journalist Gemma Murphy and the inventor-warrior of the Blades, Catullus Graves. One of the more interesting parts of this book, for me, was the fact that this was a mixed-race romance. As far as I can recall, Graves is only the second black hero I have read (Adam Claybourne was the other, and he married a black woman his mother introduced him to), and in my mind it was very brave of Archer to address such a topic during this particular historical time period. As a black man, Graves had quite a bit of trouble travelling and getting service in 1875 America (post-racial America it was not), and only slightly less trouble in England.
It seems to me that this particular topic could have accounted for The Conflict in and of itself (in the end, a couple of Gemma's brothers and her father refused to acknowledge the union, and the couple decided to settle in the slightly-less-racist UK), but alas, the Blades have bigger fish to fry than bigotry. Magical Armageddon is at hand.
I was skeptical at first regarding Gemma and Catullus' connection-- Catullus is very intense in almost everything, and is all but incapable of flirting and conversing with women. And Gemma (in a rather forward-thinking mind-set) surrendered her virginity at eighteen and then ran off to Chicago to live the life of a newspaper reporter. In the end, though, their chemistry is perfect. She is curious and intellectual, while he naturally seeks to find the answers to the questions she might ask. They appreciate each other, and bring out the best in one another.
Their adventure is long-winded and more supernatural than the others. There's dimension crossings, wizards entrapped in trees, and incarnations of legendary English kings.
It was so much fun to see everyone (not Astrid and Lesperance) again. Thalia and Gabriel are rocking out in Mongolia (despite being nearly mauled in The Final Battle) and London and Bennett are as engaging and adventurous as ever.
In the end I looked at Wendy Pan and said "I'm done." It's not that it got bad, and it's certainly not that I fell out of love with anything. It just all got to be much, and as Wendy Pan said, it might be because we read them all in one go. I believe this is the end of the Blades series (though it's perfectly clear in the end that the Blades' work is far from over), but even if it wasn't, I would need to take a serious break after this installment. I think Zoe Archer's next book comes out in December of this year, and I am very much looking forward to it. But for the moment I am looking forward to some detox.
I can't stress enough how much I highly recommend these books. Despite my irritation with some of the characters, the people, the romances, the places, could not be more enchanting (pun?). Just read slowly, and maybe break things up a bit in between.
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