Just Read: The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters, Vol. One

I just finished reading, The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters, Volume One, by Gordon Dahlquist, and recommend this to anyone who enjoys sci-fi, thrillers, adventures or mysteries, because it's really a combination of all of those genres, with maybe just a touch of romance.

I picked up this book, with no recommendation, based solely on the description on the back of book:  "It starts with a simple note.  Roger Bascombe regretfully wishes to inform Celeste Temple that their engagement is forthwith terminated.  Determined to find out why, Miss Temple takes the first step in a journey that will propel her into a dizzyingly seductive, utterly shocking world beyond her imagining - and set her on a collision course with a killer and a spy - in a bodice-ripping, action-packed roller-coaster ride of suspense, betrayal, and richly fevered dreams."  I picked it up because of that, and well, the title just sounded intriguing.  I was not disappointed, except to say that there was in reality very little bodice-ripping, but that's actually a positive for me.

Although it never states the location or time-period, based on a few clues (i.e. dress and behavior) I pictured it as Victorian London.  The aforementioned heroine of the tale, Miss Temple, is a girl after my own heart.  She defies the convention of her times in both actions and personality.  She is tender-hearted, brave, quick-witted and tempered, of restless mind and spirit, and does not suffer fools gladly.  After momentarily succumbing to tears over her fear and loneliness, "She blew her nose.  She was difficult, she knew.  She did not make friends.  She was brisk and demanding, unsparing and indulgent.  She sniffed, bitterly resenting this sort of introspection, despising the need for it nearly as much as she despised introspection itself.  In that moment she did not know which she wanted more, to curl up in the sun room of her island house, or to shoot one of these blue-glass villains in the heart..."  As I said, a girl after my own heart.

The type of science fiction resembles Jules Verne or H.G. Wells, but with more interesting characters and a much more sinister tone.  I enjoyed this enough to go ahead and order The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters, Volume Two and the third book in the series The Dark Volume, because I was highly engaged and entertained by the first, and also because the first ends with a major cliff-hanger.  I just have to know what happens to Miss Temple next.