BY SOPHIA
I’ve been struggling with a reading slump for the past few months (thank you distance learning!) so while I’ve had my hands on this copy of A Curious Beginning by Deanna Raybourn since the summer, I only got around to reading it in the month of December.
And then once I started reading it, it took me another three weeks to actually get through it – which if you know me is saying a lot about how I felt about this book. But let’s rewind a little, shall we?
I don’t remember how I first heard about this author or this series but it’s like a female Sherlock Holmes series featuring a female detective named Veronica Speedwell – A Curious Beginning is the first installment of the series. I imagine that however I heard of this book, I was drawn to it (a) because it’s historical fiction (which I LURVE) and (b) I love a good mystery. Or so I think I love a good mystery? After finishing this book and feeling somewhat dissatisfied by it, I realized that I can’t remember the last time I read a fantastic mystery novel so … maybe I don’t really love a good mystery as much as I think I do. I mean, you’d think that if it’s genre I truly enjoy, I’d read more of it, no? But I digress.
SPOILERS COMING SPOILERS COMING SPOILERS COMING SPOILERS COMING
OVERALL RATING: 3.5/5
WHAT I LIKED:
- The historical fiction aspect is *chef’s kisses* – I’m not necessarily a huge history buff so I can’t speak to the accuracy of the historical side of this work of fiction but it felt pretty true to what I do know of the the era (Victorian England).
- The main character of Veronica Speedwell is an unconventional heroine, especially for the time setting – I loved that she doesn’t let cultural mores define her life and sets out to find her own adventure.
- The main male protagonist – Stoker – has a slightly brooding demeanor that is very appealing. He’s a little rough around the edges but has a heart of gold 🙂 The author is very obviously setting up Veronica and Stoker to have some kind of a loveline angle at some point in the series but for this first book, it remained very much platonic between the two.
WHAT I DISLIKED:
- It was SUCH a slow beginning. SO SLOW. It took me forever to really get warmed up to the meat of the story, which is probably why it took me most of the month of December to get through it. The title (A Curious Beginning) is meant to introduce the reader to the main characters and tell the origin story of Veronica Speedwell (who she is, how she presumably becomes who she is in later books) but .. it just felt really slow to me. This was the main dinger for me with this book but it’s a big one because if you can’t hook me in as a reader within the first few chapters (if not the first few pages) then what is the point of reading this book!? I like to read for pleasure not as a chore, and it was definitely a chore to chug along through this book before it got to a good place.
IN CONCLUSION:
- I think younger, less picky readers *might* have a better go of it (this definitely felt like it was written for middle school/high schoolers) but unless you’re a tenacious reader who does not give up mid-read, it’ll be a hard book for you to enjoy.
- If you CAN persevere through the slower first half to two-thirds of the book, then it could be worth the read for you, especially if historical fiction mysteries (with strong female leads) is up your alley!
- The ending of the book wrapped everything up nicely with a bow, which I really appreciate, and the one-off “mystery” that Veronica and Stoker set off to solve together had a satisfying resolution to it. I’m not sure that I’ll continue reading the series … maybe if I’m bored enough sometime in the future, it’ll happen. But maybe not.