Pantomime (2013) (Strange Chemistry)Laura Lam
Grade: B-
Genre: young adult / fantasy
Source: own
Pantomime: (1) Pantomime
Young adult RBC 2014: A book with a lion, a witch or a wardrobe
Iphigenia Laurus – or Gene, to
anyone who will listen – is the only daughter of a noble family. Her brother is
her best friend, but her mother, while she has Gene’s best interests at heart,
can be unbearably coddling. Born ‘different’, Gene’s very self is her greatest
secret and given her social station, she’s destined to a life of corsets,
petticoats and repressing her preferences for shedding her dresses and climbing
trees and scaffolding …
Young Micah Grey is the newest
member of R.H. Ragona’s Circus of Magic – the greatest collection of
performers, freaks and magic tricks to ever tour Ellada. Unable to hide his
gentle breeding, runaway Micah will have to put up with the hazing, dirty jobs
and unpleasant tasks if he’s going to survive this nomadic life. But his family
has hired a Shadow to track down his whereabouts and so Micah will have to up
his game if he’s to stand a chance at sticking with this lifestyle …
I received this title via
NetGalley a shockingly long time ago. I saw the physical book in Waterstones a
while ago and bought it for the purpose of reading for review, as I’d heard a
few things about it – including a member of Waterstones staff telling me that I’d
made a good choice. Also a contributing factor to my purchasing decision was
the beautiful cover, evoking feelings of intrigue and mystery.
I felt this was a purposely
confusing book, and I didn’t like that feeling. Not only was it just plain
annoying, but it made for disjointed reading and it took a while to get pulled
into the story. This was a classic case of an unreliable narrator (which, as
regular readers will know, I dislike generally) and if the deception hadn’t
been revealed so early on, I would have likely been kept in the dark for a lot
longer. Circus life was entertaining to watch unfold (not nearly as exciting as
it appears on the surface, with a lot of drudge and hard work) and the primary
and secondary characters were fleshed out and intriguing with their own stories
to tell. Laura Lam managed to create a twisted and interesting society, but
there needed to be more history to tell a complete story, that doesn’t leave
the reader confused and like they’ve missed a page of the action.
Would I read book two, Shadowplay? Pantomime was left on a pretty good cliffhanger, but I’m not
anywhere near hooked enough. This was an okay book from a tiny publishing
house, but the Strange Chemistry imprint has since closed down and it is sad to
see that they didn’t manage to carve out their own niche in an admittedly
crowded market that is only getting more packed every year. An overall
interesting read that I’ll remember for its strange mix of characters, settings
and history, but probably won’t make a re-read.
Image courtesy of Fantastic Fiction.
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