Review: Ouststanding Novella showcasing a solid gold talent worth reading.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 02 11, 2014
The Mysterious Madam Morpho by Delilah S. DawsonI can't remember who pointed me in the direction of Delilah S. Dawson. It could well have been someone on twiter. Regardless I have someone to thank and I've no idea who you are so here it is a big Thanks. There are a lot-LOT-of authors out in the field these days but there are few true story tellers. Of those Story Tellers I count Delilah Dawson as on of the best I've encountered in a while.This short novel or novella if you must was more than I've gotten from many recent full novels. Delilah has a way of starting you out with the most masterfully crafted characters that drive you right into the story without fully comprehending how she does it.Madam Morpho (Imogene) shows up at the door of Criminy Stain and Letitia(Tish) The owner of the Caravan and his wife the glancer. Imogene is almost written in the appearance of a  Mary Poppins but with the magic of the Caravan and the colorful people within the story reads like a mix of Something Wicked this Way Comes  and the Circus of Dr. Lao.  Toss in the whole concept of a world over run by blood sucking creatures the Blud and you have an intriguing tale and that's not even mentioning the clock work master Mysterious Mr. Murdoch.Madam Morpho has an act but she lost her stage and when she demonstrates that she has some very rare live butterflies that can preform Criminy is impressed but not certain if she'll fit and only because his wife takes Madam's hand and reads her does he decide to take the risk. It never is directly mentioned what Letitia whispers to Criminy to make him so certain that Madam needs to be in the Caravan but there are enough clues to suggest that she may have read that Madam was someones soulmate.The story is rich with language that wraps the small mystery into the plot and creates something that I wanted to feast on just to take in all the wonderful prose. And when I looked at the sample for the first and second books of the series I could see that this is all part of the wonderful voice that Delilah has.This is a great read for Romance and Paranormal and SteamPunk fiction lovers not just for the strange world she has built or even the people she's filled it with, but for that the language and her voice are pure gold; in my book.J.L. Dobias