Review: Like Taking a Vacation in my Brain!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 10 5, 2012
I just have to say first and foremost that I love this carnival world that Ms. Dawson has created. I love it!! I love the magic, the feel. When I read her work in Criminy's Carnival, I feel like I've escaped this world and gone to another!I love the way she set it up. In this book, we're outside of London, but everything's just a little...off. It is a different dimension. The titles of books are familiar, but twisted. Names of famous people and their stories are changed. It's really ingenious! There is just no end to the possibilities with this world.The steampunk element is just fun in this series, too. We finally get to meet the mechanist who makes all the mechanical creatures. OMW! I want to be in his brain, and we were able to step into it a little, in this book!I love Imogen. She...OMW! She's had to deal with some of the stuff I've had to, but worse, of course. Men here aren't as bad (generally). They've had a few generations to get used to the idea that women can do more than just make copies and answer phones. In Ms. Dawson's world, they don't have to. Women have no place in the man's world, are wasting their time, money and effort by going to universities. *shakes head* I was able to really sync with Imogen. Plus, her voice is very...*chuckles* geeky! I just loved it!Then we got to meet the mysterious Mr. Murdoch. It was really fantastic to have Imogen's geeky moments entangled with his. I LOVED it!! LOVED it!!!The plot was good, too. I knew because of Letitia (she can see the future) that things were going to be okay, but that seemed like...I don't know, it felt too easy. The bad guy is standing in the crowd outside of Imogen's tent as she performs, Letitia and Criminy are just standing there with smiles on their faces. I felt that was too easy, probably because this was supposed to be a novella. In novella's there's at least one key structural element that gets the shortcut, and this felt like the shortcut.It was really great to see Letitia and Criminy again, and the remaining crew of the carnival. My favorite scene was where Mr. Murdoch (Henry) walked Imogen through the carnival. OMW! I just LOVED that! It was so MAGICAL! Also, it was great to get that tease about the next book! TEASE! GAH! I want to read Wicked As She Wants now! LOL!!!All in all, you really have to read this story!