Jacqueline GarlickReseñas
Autor de Lumière (The Illumination Paradox, #1)
Reseñas
[I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review.]
**I received a copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. All opinions are my own and not influenced by my source.**
Everything that I liked about the first book was magnified in this instalment. I found there was more action, more intriguing plot twists and stronger character development than in Lumière. Lumière did a great job of building up the world and introducing all the relevant characters but Noir did a better job of weaving all those elements together.
I struggled with Lumière because I felt like not enough was happening in terms of the plot. I had to take in little bits at a time but Noir kept my full attention the entire time. There was just enough to keep you wanting more but not so much that it overwhelmed you.
Overall, I was really impressed with Noir! I'm glad I kept with this series because I think the next instalment is going to go off in a bang!
Check out more spoiler-free book and series reviews on my blog SERIESousBookReviews.com as well as read book series recaps!
Full Review: http://wp.me/p3txrs-16C
I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
This is my first steampunk book, so I went in pretty much not knowing what to expect. Some context clues later - Lumiere takes place in AU Industrial Revolution England if there was no sun (there probably was no sun back then actually, thinking about it) after the Night of the Great Illumination that happens several years before the book.
Also, going in, I was rather confused by the names in this book. Urlick? Eyelet (Manlet = small man, eyelet = small eye?)? Smrt? How do you even pronounce that? I'll go with Smert. The first 20% of this book was a rush of info that I didn't know how to take in. It seemed like a real world version of Alice in Wonderland with all the strangeness that was going on. Everything happens all at once in the first part of the book, and all this info dumping really left me blindsided by what was going on. There is also a glossing over of Limpidious, this utopian world Eyelet's father believed to exist, and I wasn't sure what to make of it. It felt unnecessary since there wasn't even much of it explored? Unless there will be more of it in the future.
Characterwise, Eyelet annoyed the shit out of me in the beginning. She was so snobby and pretentious and bratty. Example being...
I demand you give me shelter." She stamps her foot.
"You what?"
"I demand you take me in and keep me for as long as I need."
Who would take you in after that!? Honestly Urlick.
On the other hand, I felt bad for Urlick, after all the stuff that's happened to him with his family. He has to take care of all his friends, and a bratty Eyelet. I wanted to give him a hug, pink eyes and purple bruises and all.
Hydrocycles! And face masks that alter your appearance! That was cool technology in this steampunk world.
A nice thing to note - The romance felt nice and developed despite the fact I usually like my romance taking more than one book. They actually interacted with each other (more than twice!) and their development felt more genuine. It was so cute when they finally kissed!
I pushed this from a 3 to a 3.5 because the last half of the book was a huge twist.
For my first steampunk book, I left liking this book more than I expected.
The first book in the series, "Lumiere," had quite a few high points. The world these books are set in is intriguing, and the plot of Lumiere was interesting enough to keep.my interest.
I feel like that falls away in "Noir." The plot seems weak, and stuttering to me, with several large plot holes that made it hard to continue. In general, the characters were a bit better done than the previous book, a bit more rounded out. Unfortunately, the incongruities of the plot make for choppy reading.
If you really enjoyed the first installment (which, to be fair, I did not), this might be worth a try. Otherwise, it's hard to recommend.
There were things in Lumiere that were near perfection. The romance was secondary to the main story and it was a naturally slow build. There were great secondary characters. The main characters were likable and had distinct voices in their dual narration. The elements of suspense, fantasy, steampunk, gothic thrills, and more. Surprisingly it all meshed well and would have all added up to one hell of a great reading experience had it not been for the the portions that I loved not.
I Loved It Not
The pacing was inconsistent, the chase scenes were thrilling but spoiled by dragging on entirely too long, and the ending was a disappointment. Unfortunately, the ending took what was previously unbelievable, but imaginable, in a cool fantasy sort of way; and went to far with some just plain old unbelievable ridiculousness. Not every detail needs to be worked out as a happy ending.
The Bottom Line
Lumiere by Jacqueline Garlick is a good story with a lot of interesting elements, fantastical characters, and a unique story line. The ending felt complete, which I always want in a book that is a part of a series, but there is a cliffhanger that builds anticipation for the next book, also something that I like in a series.
In many ways, Eyelet bugs the heck out of me. She’s that typical YA “heroine” who doesn’t have much sense half the time. She is headstrong and doesn’t listen to reason. Yes, she has good reason to hide her infirmity, but you’d think she would be able to trust someone who is equally afraid of the authorities. Her desire to find her father’s machine and cure herself leads her to keep running into danger, rather than away from it.
The attraction between Ulrick and Eyelet reads like the typical “we hate each other, so of course we’re inexplicably attracted to each other” romance scenario.
That out of the way, however, I like the universe. Imagine a blighted world where the sun is out there somewhere, but cloud cover keeps it constantly from view. Oh wait, I don’t have to imagine. I lived in Portland for 12 years. Seriously though, some people have questioned how the world can continue to function—food can’t grow without sunlight. Let’s just suspend our disbelief and say the UV rays are making their way through.
This story has the undead for all the zombie lovers. What I love, though, is the steampunk inventions. This is steampunk the way I like it, with a winged, semi-sentient motorcycle and much more. Supporting characters are interesting and varied in their motivations. And yay, no teen-age dystopian YA love triangle! The underlying plot regarding the fathers of both Ulrick and Eyelet is interesting, and I will definitely search out the remainder of the series.
Bonus: The idea that science can’t explain everything, and that sometimes, you just have to believe that magic exists!
Possible Objectionable Material:
Teenagers feeling attraction for each other, acting on it somewhat. Perilous situations. Violence. Sneakiness. Some cursing.
Who might like this book:
Lovers of fantasy and/or steampunk. Those who like YA, dystopia, gadgets, zombies. It skews a little girly in my mind, but not overwhelmingly so. Approximate Lexile: 830
I received a free e-book from NetGalley in return for this unbiased review.
I really loved the first book in the series, so I was super excited to get my hands on the second one (especially after how the first one ended). Unfortunately, this one didn't pull me in as well as the first one did. I still enjoyed reading it though.
The story picks up right where the first one left off. While the last book was written from the point of views of Eyelet and Urlick, the author added additional point of views from some of the other characters. I felt this was helpful to gain insight on some of the other characters and their roles in the events that transpired throughout the book.
Series: Illumination Paradox #1
Published by Jacqueline Pynaert on 11 August 2015
Reviewed by Kj
The Word: An adventurous plot, jam-packed with danger and intrigue was overshadowed by poor dialogue and dull characters.
http://birdslovewords.com/review-lumiere-by-jacqueline-garlick/
Set at the turn of the century where magic is seen as a dark art and people are still hung for their crimes. Lumiere is Jacqueline Garlick’s debut novel. It reminded me a lot of City of Embers and the Golden Compass with a dash of Hugo. It was high action, packed full of mystery and danger but I just didn’t relate to the characters.
Eyelet is a young lady who suffers from epileptic fits in a society where illness is considered as the beginning signs of madness. Her father, a famous inventor, developed a machine that he hoped would help cure Eyelet of her disease but he was never allowed to use it to its full potential before the flash. The flash was a bright green light that caused dangerous gas clouds, which blocked out the sun. Eyelets father died in the event and it has just been her and her mother for the past several years. After Eyelet’s mother is accused of using witchcraft Eyelet is forced to run – she learns the location of her fathers machine and goes in search of it hoping to cure her ailments (seizures). The machine is stolen just before she gets her hands on it. (believe it or not that all happened in the first couple of chapters) Eyelet is forced out of her comfort zone as she tries to survive and find the truth behind her father’s death and machine.
I found that I spent a lot of time skimming paragraphs trying to absorb the important details and didn’t connect with the story. I feel the book would be much more enjoyable if a third of the book was removed. The main characters were constantly running from danger and at times it felt like there were too many people out to get them. The plot had too much going on or too little. The middle seemed to drag on yet, when I was close to the end it seemed to be jam-packed with people attacking left right and centre and at times it was hard to keep up with what was going on.
I absolutely loved the setting for the book – set in the early 1900s where women are second-class citizens, science is becoming more prominent, and witchcraft is feared. It is dirty and dingy and horses and carts are the main transportation. The concept for the flash was great – ominous gas clouds that kill or change people into evil mist-like beings, earth mutilated with deep crevices and pockets of heat and the scorched sun contributed to the ominous feel of the book.
I loved and hated Eyelet – at the beginning of the book she has spunk and attitude and didn’t consider that as a girl she was disadvantaged. She constantly worried about having a major seizure in front of others but had been managing them for several years. She had a unique style and wasn’t easily intimidated. However, after meeting Urlick (yes he was the one who knicked the machine) although maintaining some sass – she became a docile female who was quickly enamoured by Urlick’s (non-existent) charm. Her relationship with Urlick was forced and seemed unrealistic.
Despite the grievances I had with the book it wasn’t bad, it just didn’t reach out to me. I also felt the book was targeted towards a younger YA audience – it missed the depth of emotion often seen in YA. If you’re a fan of steampunk or love technological based books then give it a try.
Love you long time.
Lumiere unfolds in a weird world that feels both Medieval and mechanical while the descriptions support a post-apocalyptic life with the prologue taking place before everything changed. Magic and science exist in an unhappy pairing while the world itself is both corrupt and corrupted. People thrive in an area kept separate from the corruption if they are wealthy while the rest live as close to the outskirts as they can in the struggle to survive.
Inside these pages, despite the grim world and Eyelet’s situation (one of the main characters), you find a grand adventure where both Eyelet and Urlick (the other main character) are confident of what they know. That confidence is both wrong and right in ways they don’t expect.
There is a definite steampunk feel to the mad scientists with wild inventions and mechanically gifted folks able to create things that cross the plausibility barrier into magic. Eyelet and Urlick share this talent though with different approaches, strengths, and weaknesses.
The characters are enjoyable whether main or minor, the villains are repulsive and manipulative, and the prize is both a mystery and somewhat understood. Ignorance in main characters can become annoying, especially if the answer seems clear to the reader. Lumiere avoids this by providing firm answers that are incorrect to some degree while enabling the reader to enjoy the journey instead of getting frustrated about their inability to figure out what’s really going on.
There’s one exception to the above, one connection that seemed obvious to me but they were too close to see. However, it turned out even there, I had most of the pieces to deduce the answer but not the whole so when the reveal happened, it still came as a surprise.
The book employs real-world techniques that are not well known blended with a touch of mythology and whole cloth creation to provide a complex society with real problems the characters are thrust in the middle of. At the same time, there’s a growing love story with its own complications and the pursuit of knowledge that could harm more than it helps.
I think this is the type of story where different readers will experience different levels and recognize deeper meaning on later reads. At the same time, the overt story is strong and worthwhile even if the rest goes over the reader’s head.
It might not be what most expect of steampunk, but it’s worth the time to read. And for those who hate cliffhangers, it does end on a slight one, but that’s more on the level of epilogue because the main story is already complete. However, I suspect I know where the second book will begin, and that’s a fun thought.
P.S. I received this title from the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review.
Eyelet must rescue Urlick before it’s too late. However she will need to journey through the woods (which are full of the Infirm and criminals) as well as sneak back into the city of Brethern (where she is a wanted criminal) to do so. Luckily she has Crazy Legs (aka CL) to help her out and they are able to hook up with freak show train and sneak into the city undercover. Things don’t go as planned and suddenly Eyelet finds herself a prisoner of the dreaded insane asylum she’s worked her whole life to avoid.
This book switches POV a lot more than the first one. We hear from Eyelet, Urlick, Flossie and CL quite a bit. I honestly didn’t enjoy the parts from CL or Flossies’s POV much; I just had trouble engaging with those characters.
I thought this book was also a lot more scattered than the first one. The whole plot around the illumination device and how it can save or destroy the world was brushed aside as Eyelet rushed to rescue Urlick and then Urlick rushed to rescue Eyelet. Rather than broaden the awesome world shown to the reader in the first book, this book seemed to ignore the world in place of all this rushing around and rescuing folks. There are still a lot of intriguing steampunk devices throughout the story so that was good to see.
A large portion of the story takes place in Madhouse Brink, the very asylum Eyelet was desperately trying to avoid. Madhouse Brink was a disturbing, strangely illogical (I know it’s a madhouse), and inexplicable addition to the story. A lot of weird things that are in this place seem to be there for novelty and not any other reason in particular; they are also never well explained. It was just...an odd addition to the story.
Eyelet and Urlick are both flawed characters, but I admired their devotion to each other and their dedication to their friends. The plot does take some interesting turns and I am curious to see how things play out in the third and final book.
This book leaned more toward the new adult or adult age group rather than young adult. The scenes in Madhouse Brink get very violent, gory, and disturbing. There is also a lot of fairly explicit and romance- style talk about sex (although the act itself is never gone through in detail). I was just a bit surprised at how much “adult” content there was given that the first book was pretty YA friendly.
Overall this was an okay book in this series. It had more adult content (sex, torture, gore) than the first book. I also though the plot was scattered and didn’t enjoy the addition of Flossie’s and CL’s points of view. However I do still find this world intriguing and am curious as to how the story will play out. I will most likely pick up the last book in the series. I would tentatively recommend this series to those who are looking for more YA steampunk.
When Eyelet Elsworth was young a strange flash shattered the world and hide the sun behind murky clouds forever. Now that Eyelet is older she is determined to find her father’s invention, a device called the Illuminator. Eyelet believes that the Illuminator cannot only save her from herself (she has debilitating seizures that she has to hide lest she be accused of Madness), but also save the world.
Eyelet ends up fleeing the safety of her home when an evil professor named Smrt finds out about her seizures and is determined to capture her. Her flight ends up in her finding her father’s Illuminator, but it is being taken by someone else! Eyelet pursues the thief and her chase leads her outside the safety of city walls and into the world of Urlick Babbit, the young man who stole her father’s Illuminator. Now Eyelet is in Urlick’s world; it’s a world of deadly Vapours and criminal infested woods.
I absolutely loved the world created here. It’s a twilight world where humanity cowers behind walls in hopes of evading the Vapours which can change people into things that aren’t quite human. I love the ingenuity in how Urlick survives outside these walls. There’s a lot of creative elements here and I enjoyed it a lot.
Eyelet is a wonderful character; she has been well-off (if a bit ostracized) her whole life and being plunged into Urlick’s world is a shock. However, she is remarkably accepting of everything and very determined to complete her mission. Urlick is a well done character too. I really enjoyed how Urlick has to turn even common household items into some complicated (and occasionally dangerous) device. Some of the devices were very creative and fun.
The chemistry between the two characters is well done, but never absolutely heart-stopping. Still, Eyelet and Urlick play off of each other’s strengths and weaknesses well and I am eager to see where both their adventures and relationship take them in the future.
Overall this was a very creative and well done young adult steampunk read. I would definitely recommend picking this up if you love fast-paced steampunk reads with excellent world building, mystery and romance. The world is very creative and the characters are engaging as well. I am excited to read Noir.
Eyelet grew up in a world where the sun disappeared after a mysterious flash when she was still a child. Before his death, Eyelet's father was working on a cure to her "madness" in the form of a machine called the Illuminator. Now a 17 year old living in a world where any form of madness is reason to be locked away or killed, she hopes to try to discover the hidden location of her father's machine to fix herself.
After being accused of a crime she didn't commit, Eyelet must go on the run in order to save herself. While escaping capture, she tries to locate where her father's Illuminator is hidden. When she finally locates the warehouse in her father's notes, a mysterious man has already beat her there and is stealing the machine. This is how she meets a young man named Urlick.
I loved this story! The steampunk world that Jacqueline Garlick created was very well done. When combined with her strong, interesting characters, I was totally absorbed and didn't want to put it down. The interactions between Eyelet and Urlick were great to read and I found myself laughing quite a few times. Thanks to a cliffhanger at the end, I can't wait till I can get my hands on the next book!
Jacqueline Garlick has definitely mastered that most talked about technique – showing instead of telling. This book was action packed right from the beginning and while it took me a bit to orient myself in the original world she’s created, I loved every minute of it. I’ve only read a little steampunk, but to me at least, many of her creative imaginings of that kind of world were brilliantly novel. Her hero and heroine were equally unique, with features that distinguish them dramatically from the annoyingly unrealistic perfect heros and heroines who populates so many YA stories. This only made them more likable. They each had their quirks and insecurities which contributed to the realistic romance that followed. Unlike in many books, I can point to specific reasons the characters like each other, a fact that makes a romance feel far less cliche.
My only problem with the book is the pacing. While more realistic than most, the romance progressed fairly quickly. The adventures were exciting, but the hero and heroine were so often in near death situations that they lost their emotional impact. By the end, they could be gasping their last breath and I wouldn’t be too concerned, because they’ve survived everything already! Despite my lack of worry for the characters, I was sad to come to a cliff-hanger ending. While I’m sure everything will work out, I wanted to know what came next. I really became invested in this fantastic world and the fates of these unique protagonists. I can’t wait to read more! I would recommend this to any fan of steampunk, but also to fans of realistic romance and of gothic stories since this had a distinctly gothic feel at times.
This review first published on Doing Dewey.
As you know, I'm a pretty picky reader when it comes to the YA category, plus I don't always jump on board with self-pubs or indies. Still, this book's description drew me in when it was brought to my attention; something about the story just struck the right tune with me. Right away, I knew I had something good when the prologue opened with an introduction to the heroine Eyelet (what a charming name!) at age eight at the time, looking upon a brass mechanical steam-powered elephant at a carnival. I knew right then that I was going to love everything about this world.
Fast forward to the first chapter and we see Eyelet as a seventeen-year-old now, nine years after that fateful day at the carnival where a mysterious flash lit the skies and changed the world. Troubled by occasional seizures and desperate to hide her illness from the authorities, Eyelet is determined to hunt down the Illuminator, a fantastical machine that was invented years ago by her brilliant scientist father. The machine may be her only chance to cure herself, but the question is, can she find what she seeks before her father's old nemesis gets to it first?
The story certainly made me hope so. Jacqueline Garlick made it easy for me to root for her characters by giving them such endearing and energetic personalities. Not far into the story we get to meet Urlick Babbit, the young man who unwittingly rescues our heroine as she escapes capture from her enemies. Poor guy didn't know what he was in for! Even when it comes to Eyelet and her total disregard for other people's privacy or some of the churlish questions that spills out of her mouth, I couldn't help but find myself amused by the dynamics between these two as something deeper begins to develop between them. I also like that they're not a conventional couple; like I said, Eyelet has her nettlesome qualities and Urlick isn't your usual drop-dead gorgeous Prince Charming, having experienced injuries during his birth that marred his appearance. I found their relationship very unique and refreshing.
Again, I just can't get over how rich the setting is. It's an original world packed with amazing qualities, flavored with a healthy dose of magic and steampunk. Here and there you will find all sorts of quirky mechanical creations and bizarre creatures -- some that are helpful like Eyelet's ravens, others that aren't so friendly like the zombie/ghoul-like Turned. There's also a good chunk of the book where Eyelet is holed up at Urlick's place, trapped there because of the dangerous Vapours storms, where she discovers all sorts of gadgets and other wonky inventions designed and constructed by the strange boy. Even though this section was a slower break from the action, I was kept interested, never knowing what Eyelet would find next in Urlick's hideout.
I very much appreciated the nice blend of fantasy with the action-adventure elements of this one. And I was honestly surprised with the quality of the writing and storytelling; whatever polish it requires is very minimal, and as a whole the story was presented exceptionally well and flowed naturally. I wouldn't have devoured this book so quickly if it hadn't, and certainly the fun factor of the plot didn't hurt. I knew I was hooked when as soon as I finished the book, I went online and checked if there was an estimated release date for the next book. Alas, it won't be for a while yet. But definitely something to look forward to.
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[I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review.]