#michaelcox

So I've been dipping my toe into the pool of Tumblr for a little while now. I've never really posted anything of my own, just mostly reblogged things I thought were cool. But, as an English teacher and avid reader, I decided that I wanted to put out there some of my thoughts on books I was reading.

My goal is to write reviews for every book I read in 2015. Currently, I do not have a steady job, which means I have plenty of time to read. Hopefully by August I will have a teaching job and won't have a lot of time on my hands, but I like books and talking about them too much to not write about them!

Ok, so these first few reviews are going to be a little wIbbly-wobbly timey-whimey. I will be thinking back to the books I read at the beginning of the year. Even if I have read them before (I will sometimes reread an old favorite rather than reading a new one), I will write a review on it, but I won't double up.

Here it goes. The first review: The Meaning of Night by Michael Cox.

This book was published in 2007 and was followed by a sequel, The Glass of Time, in 2009. Cox sadly passed away in 2009, with the sequel published posthumously.

The story: This book focuses on Edward Glver, a man in Victorian England bent on revenge. His object of obsession: Phoebus Rainsford Daunt and the wrongs that he has committed against Edward. The story starts in the middle, then goes back to the beginning and progresses towards its dramatic ending. Interspersed are memorable and unique characters such as Emily Carteret, the beautiful and intriguing love interest for Edward. 

Quicky review: If you enjoy Victorian novels, try this book. If you enjoy stories of retribution and revenge, read this book. It has a great element of spook, fitting very well into the Victorian era. However, the protagonist can be a bit dense at times, and the action takes a bit to get rolling. Ultimately, though, I was left satisfied with the ending and intrigued enough to read the sequel.

The full review: This book intrigued me from the first sentence: “After killing the red-haired man, I took myself off to Quinn’s for an oyster supper.” The unemotional impact of that statement blew me away. Getting into the story, at first it felt like it took forever to actually get to the action. From the opening scene to its actual place in the progression of the narrative, there was a large chunk of story. Explaining Glyver's (who also goes by Edward Glapthorn. I got confused because this took time to be explained) vendetta against Daunt took some time as well.

Ultimately it felt like a lot of time was being spent giving the background information, and all I wanted was the action.

However, the action itself, as well as the development of the dialogue and characters themselves was very satisfying as a reader. The character of Emily Carteret was very brilliant; it's almost amazing that Glyver did not see her as I did throughout a huge majority of the novel. Cox's juxtaposition between the grittiness of Victorian London and the idyllic nature of the ancestoral home of Evenwood is brilliant. It shows the dualistic nature not only of Victorian London, which seems beautiful on the surface but was also dirty and dangerous, but also the dualistic nature of people themselves. Glyver is the perfect example of this. At the beginning of his story, he is like many college graduates: adrift. He isn't sure of what he wants to do and he has little motivation to do anything about it. Instead he focuses on the past, on what could have been. Pheobus Daunt (by the way, a completely excellent name) wronged Glyver when they were at school, and he allows it to consume him. When he discover another, and even greater, wrong that Daunt has done against him, one that changed the course of his entire life, Glyver finally takes that step and becomes someone who does rather than someone who thinks.

I am interested enough to read the sequel, but I have not read it yet. I know it is set twenty years after the events in The Meaning of Night and has to do with the results of Edward Glyver's actions. 

I give this book 3.5 spooky black capes out of 5. It was a good read, and I would probably buy it! You will most likely see the sequel on here at some point.