Strange Beasts

3 stars, Metaphorosis reviews
Summary
Sam Harker is an American researcher for the British Royal Society for the Study of Abnormal Phenomena. But a new case has arisen in Paris that's made her determined to prove her mettle as a field agent. Only they've assigned her a partner - Hel Moriarty, daughter of the infamous criminal. And Hel's last three partners died almost as soon as they were assigned.

Review
In the end, I may not have been the right target for this book. It's a pastiche of all sorts of things, bringing together Dracula, werewolves, Van Helsing, Moriarty, Dickens, monster hunters, Paris, etc. I quickly found that it stretched my suspension of disbelief past the breaking point.

The characters as well strained credulity. The protagonist is attracted to men, to women, to no one – not because the character is working it out for herself, or because it's signposted as part of her nature, but because it allows for nifty plot twists. That seems to apply across other elements as well. The thing is that they're twists, but they're not in the least unexpected. We know what the twist will be because we can see what the author thinks will be fun.

For some readers, I'd bet that it is fun. For me, the cramming in of every 1800s notion and well-worn trope possible was too much – far too much. And I found the plot points too quick, too easy, too much like too much wish fulfillment, too pointedly Anglo- and Francophilic.

All that said, the prose is generally good (though rocky and in need of polish at the start), the pace is smooth, the lore sufficiently credible and consistent. There's some animal testing that goes on that was both unnecessary and cruel.

This book isn't advertised as part of a series, but I've marked it as one because it seems so clear that one is intended.

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.