Paolo Male, 43, Married. USA

Steampunk is fashionable, these days. And this book had almost all the characteristics to make it a champion of the genre. I actually rescued it from the non-genre part of the bookstore, and indeed it almost had the literary qualities to be shelved there. It reminded me a lot of Susanne Clarke (the main character, Edward Moon, really feels like a clone of Mr. Norrell). And indeed, the atmosphere of the book has almost the charm of the Jonathan Strange saga. The characters are almost as quirky as in a Gaiman book (and indeed the Prefects are totally lifted from Neverwhere, of which the Somnambulist unfortunately lacks the wit. Finally the grandiose underlying conspiracy, and the gothic details are almost as pictoresque as in any Adéle Blanc-Sec graphic novel.
Don't get me wrong: I almost had a lot of fun reading this one.

Still after a few pages, I didn’t know what to expect from this book. It starts in medias res, and for a while I was wondering how to unravel all the information fed to me, taking in all the implications of the wonderful and scary things that are hinted to. Magic-powered terrorists on a rampage in the homeland? It reminded me a little initially of Palahniuk’s Lullaby, especially given the similar “frame story” setup . Except that all the havoc and the cheap thrills happen behind the scenes. But what about the liquid magic and the flying carpets: how could the author sink hardcore magic into a real-life setting, and make it believable? She succeeds, I think, in a way that goes beyond fantasy: by making us care about the lives of ordinary, small town people in extraordinary circumstances. A.M. Dellamonica masterfully interplays first person narration with the point of view of Astrid, the time-displaced protagonist, as she narrates the (re)discovery of blue magic. It’s an atypical cast of characters, whose status and relationship takes a while to absorb. But the payback is definitely worth the effort, and a thick narration is woven out of every person, place and object, unveiling the wonders little by little, building on anticipation. And that to me, was the real magic.

I liked this one, I really did. Sure, Harry is a demigod, Ron is a satyr and Hermione the daughter of Athena. The book is definitely aimed at a younger audience than the HP mythos, and probably will appeal mostly to boys, 12 and under. The plot is not terribly involved or involving, but this is definitely a fun, laugh-out-loud fun kind of read.

HoaW is a typical Thompson nightmare, and one can't avoid to love every word of it. Unfortunately, the as in many other cases in the unfortunate career of this writer, there are jumps in logic and inconsistencies. Some of the problems can be ascribed to the "unreliable narrator" but the reader is left with the feeling of having in their hands an unfinished draft. Even the scorching finale needed a little more work to fit in with the rest of the book.