The Peculiar

I found this debut novel to be wonderfully evocative of a steampunk'd Victorian world in which the faery world has encroached upon England and even given rise to faery slums. The prologue paints the picture of how it came about and I found myself immediately intrigued. The story has two main characters: young Bartholomew Kettle, the titular Peculiar, i.e. a half-breed human-faery child, and Arthur Jelliby, an English gentlemen who reluctantly finds himself caught up in some sinister doings. One description I found particularly apt was “Part murder mystery, part gothic fantasy, part steampunk adventure.” It's all that. And the story slowly builds, drawing you into the mystery and by its finish events are hurtling along. Not everything's completely wrapped up, though. Looks like a follow-up book is planned. One other point to mention: although this may be classified as being for readers 9 and up, I found the writing to be more sophisticated and would up that figure to teens and up at least. Still, as a nominal adult, I found this book to be very entertaining.