Review: Gideon Smith and The Mask Of The Ripper

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Tor Books  in exchange for a review.

This is the third book in the Gideon Smith series and I'm finding them getting better and better. Despite the gorgeous cover, I'll confess I thought another ripper story?

However I should have known that Barnett would put a fantastic twist on the legend. Character development is very much at the for front of this novel. 

In fact Gideon doesn't show up into 40 plus pages in the novel. Gideon finds himself taking a case involving a missing girl and a hypnotist which leaves him wandering the dark streets of London with no memory of who he is. It's up to  Gideon's love Maria and Inspector Lestrade to track him down along with unraveling the mystery of the Ripper killings.

This was a great read with some exciting action scenes and sweet romance. The story still has some great steampunk touches and romance. It's interesting seeing what changes David picks in this alternate history novel. I especially found his take on Watson & Holmes interesting.

A really great read in a very solid series.

Review: The Undertaking of Lily Chen by Novgorodoff

I was drawn to this book because of the beautiful art and the fact that it was by First Second Publishing whose work I always enjoy. 
The art is spectacular. The pages are like miniature watercolors. The story opens with two men fighting on an airfield when one is hit buy a car and the other runs away.
The man who runs is Deshi Li and the man who dies is is his brother Wei, first born and favored son of the Li family.
Deshi's mother hands him a bag of money and demands he bring him a female body. A corpse that will be wedded to Wei so he won't be lonely in the afterlife.
On his journey he meets Lily Chen a young woman on the run from her family who wants her to give into the demands of a greedy land lord.
The story was interesting but I could never really connect with either character. It wasn't a cultural thing I just didn't like them.
Each of them are trapped by family demands that explain a lot about their personalities but I just keep wondering why they didn't make better choices earlier. However I found the ending satisfying.
So overall a mixed bag for me.