The Dark Volume

February 2, 2009
Readers unfamiliar with bestseller Dahlquist's 2006 debut, The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters
, which is set in an alternate world similar to Victorian Europe, may have trouble following this complicated sequel, despite the “preparatory word on what has already happened” at the start. In The Glass Books
, West Indies plantation heiress Celeste Temple, naval surgeon Abelard Svenson and criminal Cardinal Chang joined forces to combat an evil cabal that smelted a mineral into “a psychotropic blue glass” that “captures human memory.” Temple, who survived the previous book's cinematic climax involving a gunfight in a sinking dirigible, finds herself suspected of a series of mysterious murders, while Svenson and Chang discover new enemies to thwart. Too much going on at the same time, including less than engaging confrontations with various over-the-top villains, undermines a clever concept that may yet be the basis for a solid adventure series.

February 15, 2009
Dahlquist (The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters, 2007) continues his genre-busting in this adventure sequel set in an alternate Victorian era.

Dahlquist extends the story of feisty adventuress Celeste Temple, scarred assassin Cardinal Chang and Dr. Abelard Svenson as they unravel a sinister conspiracy involving a weird, memory-stealing blue glass material. As in his previous book, Dahlquist combines disparate elements of Victorian adventure stories, steampunkish science fiction, murder mystery and even mad-scientist horror. The action ricochets among the three main characters as they set off on adventures peppered with gunfights, swordplay and terrifying people made of glass. The tight plot is a marked improvement over the author's more leisurely paced debut. Still, some may have a hard time keeping track of the dense stream of minor characters, and despite Dahlquist's efforts to allow this book to stand on its own—he even prefaces it with a 25-point crash course on the first book—readers may find it necessary to read Book One to keep everything straight.

Complex and enjoyable—recommended to those who've read The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters.

(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

March 15, 2009
Dahlquists sequel to The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters (2007) is dark indeed. The daunting Preparatory Word details what has gone before: who killed whom and what alchemical experiments have already taken place. If you havent read the first book, good luck! That said, fans of Tobsha Learners Soul (2008) and Jonathan Barnes Somnambulist (2008) will enjoy this surreal Victorian journey into the nightmarish possibilities of mind swapping. Miss Temple awakens after a dirigible crash with fragmented memories of murder and precious cargo. Separated from her companions, she flees hostile villagers in the company of the not-quite-honest Eloise, launching a seemingly endless series of adventures involving exquisite pain, sexual revelations, and near-death experiences. Meanwhile, a powerful cabal seeking a lost glass book is subverted by its victims, among them a blue-glass whore and a wily contessa. The idea of glass books, which absorb a persons essence through a nasty process, is what makes this sometimes bewildering, overpopulated novel fascinating. Its a big-concept story full of potent psychological metaphors, and if those metaphors never quite gel, they still offer readers much to contemplate.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)