Review – Mirror Gate by Jeff Wheeler

I received an ARC from Netgalley with the option of a voluntary review.

I previously reviewed the first in the series, Storm Glass, here – http://bit.ly/2ogMHh8

If you bothered clicking the link, you’ll notice I really liked it. I really liked this one too. “Why four stars instead of five?” you say (conversation may not have happened.)

Well, here goes. The first in the series was quite unique, a steam-punk Victorian world with a mysterious magic system and interesting characters. It’s still here, but less unique (obviously). My problem is with the first third or so of the book. The time has jumped four years, with nary a hint of what went on it time. In fact, hardly anything goes on in that first third at all, I was struggling to maintain my interest. Cettie and Sera had been roomies at Muirwood Abbey for four years, with little but some hints at Cettie being awesome controlling the Mysteries, while poor ol’ Sera being a bit of a lame duck.

Then…

After dozing through 100 or so pages, Wheeler ramps up the pace – a lot. One of the girls is attacked, Sera’s grandfather pops his clogs, opening up a vacancy at Emperor, one Sera is in the running for. There are rumours of war with Kingfountain, who seem to have improved their technology to an advanced state. Throw in the standard politicking and social one-upping, along with Cettie’s discovering a lot more about her ghosts, old flames showing up at inopportune moments and the rest of the book is a rip.

Wheeler has ramped up the stakes for everyone involved (including the reader) and I find it hard to believe that the majority of those who read book two, will not be interested in reading book three. There is some fine world-building and storytelling going on here. Give it 4.4/5