I’m a fan of authors who you know you’re going to like. Now, usually you know you are going to like their books because each book is very similar to the others they’ve written. You know Dean Koontz is going to write another creepy book, you know John Green is going to write another awesome coming of age book. It’s more rare to find an author who can write a great dystopian book like Delirium, and also a fun, quaint little fantasy novel like Liesl and Po.
I listened to this book, so right from the get go I liked it because Jim Dale reads it, but the book stands up on its own. It takes place in somewhere like London about 150 yrs ago. Oliver’s descriptions of the city remind me of Peter Pan, in fact this book seems like something that could become a classic like that.
I really liked how everyone’s stories were tied together. It takes a lot of thought to figure out how each character is going to be tied to other people in such a way that readers don’t expect it, and Oliver does this flawlessly. The characters are big and over the top, but it fits the almost fairy tale nature of the story. Also, her imagining of ghosts is an interesting take I’ve never heard before and it lent the ghosts their own flair.
Overall, the story was a bit simple, following a very expected path, but the writing was great, conveying the magical sort of feeling that I love to find in any book. I can easily see myself reading this book to my future children.